I never stop being amazed, or maybe even in awe, at how animals have adapted to feed, breed, surviving winter’s cold, summer’s heat, and migration. One bird I always added to my annual Carbon County bird list eluded me last year. So this year I worked harder to find it. The bird is the horned lark. Well, apparently, I didn’t search hard enough last year because after researching more about it and its habits I just didn’t look in all the “right” places. I’ve found them almost every birding outing this year.

The problem with the horned lark, and some other bird species, is that they aren’t very ostentatious. They are rather plain colored birds, they don’t frequent areas close to people (usually) and they aren’t dynamic singers like cardinals, mockingbirds, red-eyed vireos, or blue jays. Horned larks are birds of the farm fields, airport runway grassy areas, or any area kept in short grasses or weeds. These larks breed in the Times News area, and in fact breed across most of North America and other continents as well. Some breed in local farm fields and some that are wintering in these fields now, fly north (shortly) and can be breeding near the Arctic Circle in a few months.

Their tenacity is impressive. Their resilience is super. Their luck is apparently good too. The horned larks that nest in our region have two broods each year. How they survive the elements is sheer determination. They often nest too early and the eggs freeze. Or the fallow field they chose in which to nest, gets plowed this year. In a pasture, grazing animals can step on or destroy the nest. What is most amazing to me is their second nest can be occurring during some of summer’s hottest weather. I don’t know how the female can withstand the scorching heat while sitting “forever” on nearly bare ground with sometimes only a few clumps of grass to shade her and her eggs. Note, she normally has a 4 egg clutch and one egg is laid each succeeding day. She doesn’t incubate until the last egg is laid. How do the eggs not get destroyed by the heat? Or, maybe some do and she starts anew. Only the female incubates and after 11 days they hatch. They are altricial birds (young born featherless, helpless) and remain in the nest a few weeks.

The horned lark uses another tactic to help her nest succeed. The female horned lark will sneak away from the nest if you or an intruder gets within 100 yards or so from her. This is called nest concealment by abandonment. The killdeer, also a ground nester locally, will leave the nest upon seeing an intruder but after running away a few yards will begin “killdeeing, killdeeing” and play the broken wing routine. This can also be very successful for keeping the nest from being discovered.

Note my photographs and see if by chance you have already observed the larks. Or use them as a reference when on a snowy, windswept day a few of these larks take flight from a recently plowed road and you realize you’ve witnessed these hardy birds taking advantage of some roadside shoulder being cleared to reveal some critical seeds to eat.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: I just watched a pileated woodpecker begin excavating its nest cavity. How long does it take the male and female to finish that project? A. 3 days; B. 1 week; C. 2 weeks; D. 6 weeks.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Most conifers have thin, narrow leaves to reduce the loss of critical water from the surface of their leaves during the windy, cold winter months.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com