Lark Bunting
Lark Buntings are unusual among sparrows in having a high degree of sexual dimorphism. In breeding plumage, the black and white male is strikingly different from the brown striped female. Some early ornithologists initially thought the Lark Bunting was related to the Bobolink, a member of the blackbird family with similarly black and white males and brown striped females.

Lark Buntings are gregarious most of the year. They forage in tight flocks on migration and during winter. Like other open country birds, flock movements often take a rolling form, with birds from the rear of the flock flying over those in the front. Even during the breeding season Lark Buntings are very tolerant of each other. They may build nests in loose colonies, with nests as close as 100 feet apart. Unmated males may display unchallenged over other males' established territories.

Males perform a characteristic display flight. Dozens of males at a time may display in the air at the same time. They flutter with rapid wingbeats up to a height of 20 or 30 feet, pause, then float back down to earth on stiff outstretched wings, sometimes circling in the manner Bobolinks. Lark Buntings utter a rich warbled song during the flight display or when perched. The complex repetitious song is a mixture of short notes and slurred phrases, vaguely suggesting the songs of the Northern Cardinal or Yellow-breasted Chat.

Females return to the breeding range a few days after the males. Late-arriving females may have to mate with already paired males. These males help feed their first family, so that secondary females must raise the young on their own. Between mid-May and mid-July, females construct nests in depressions on the ground in grasslands or sagebrush, typically sheltered from weather and predators by shrubs, prickly-pears, or clumps of tall grass. Usually females lay and incubate 4 or 5 pale blue eggs.

In summer as much as 80 percent of the Lark Bunting diet consists of insects and other arthropods, especially grasshoppers and beetles. Lark Buntings also eat weed seeds and waste grains. They usually forage on the ground, but will give chase to flushed insects, capturing them in flight.

Lark Buntings are somewhat nomadic. Numbers throughout the breeding range fluctuate, apparently in response to variation in annual precipitation. The breeding range extends from southern Alberta and southern Manitoba to western New Mexico and western Texas, east to eastern South Dakota and northwestern Missouri. The conversion of native prairie to agricultural lands has contributed to a reduction in the northern and eastern portions of the range. Fall migration begins early, with some birds appearing on the wintering range as early as late July. From the grasslands and sagebrush habitats of the northern Great Plains, Lark Buntings migrate to spend the winter in cultivated fields, brushy habitats, and deserts from central California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas south to southern Mexico.
Lark Bunting Range Map

Description: Lark Buntings are large (5½ - 7") chunky short-tailed sparrows with relatively large bills. Females and males in non-breeding plumage may be distinguished from other sparrows by their large bills, white pattern on their tails, and conspicuous wing patches. Male Lark Buntings in breeding plumage are unmistakable. They are entirely black except for conspicuous large white wing patches, and white on the tail. The tail is tipped with white on all but the central feathers and the outer edge of the outer tail feathers. The bill is blue-gray.

Females have grayish brown plumage with dark streaks, whitish underparts with distinct brown streaking, and a buffy wash on the flanks. The supercilium and lores are pale brown. The pale brown throat and moustache areas are separated by dark brown stripes. Like males, females have white tips on the tail feathers. They have dark brown wings with a prominent buffy wing patch.

Males in non-breeding plumage resemble females but have larger wing patches, blacker throat, and much heavier and darker streaking on the underparts.


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