While birding Lakeshore State Park in Milwaukee the highlight of the walk were two adult Horned Larks feeding on seeds in the grass in the snow. On one occasion I saw one eat an insect, so they are not strictly seed eaters. They pulled seeds off of plants and ate nicely while I watched from a distance until a jogger not knowingly flush them off a ways. It was partly cloudy, low winds and temps around 30 degrees. Images were taken on November 1, 2019.
Horned Lark, one of two present…
Horned Lark
Binomial name: Eremophila alpestri
Category: Chickadees and Titmice
Size: 7.25” long, 12” wing span
Weight: 1.1 oz
Picking seeds off of a plant and eating them…
Seed in the bill…
Getting another seed off the plant….
Another seed in the bill…
Another seed in the bill…
They were in a grass area for a moment…
Insect in the bill here…
A closer look…
Thanks for these wonderful photos! Wonderful to see these larks at such close range!
They are absolutely beautiful!
Beautiful photos. Is that a plantain seed? Thanks for sharing the glory of the bird world with us!
Great photos, Jim. Soon they’ll be south until spring.