Hello Tweeters,
Jo asked about Horned Larks. Horned Larks are best described as uncommon in
western Washington. There are more of them in migration and in winter than in
summer. In the winter they can be found at just about any open grassy area in
the lowlands, such as farm lands, parks, sandy spits and beaches, oh, and dikes
in the Everett area. : )
It is a complex species with 21 subspecies in North America. In western
Washington we have three subspecies, with two of them breeding, the Streaked
Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestis strigata) and the Alpine Horned Lark (E. a.
alpina). The third one is the Arctic Horned Lark (E. a. arcticola) which visits
us from, well, the arctic. The Streaked Horned Lark nest in the lowlands and the
Alpine Horned Lark nest above tree line in the Olympic and Cascaded Mountains.
The Streaked Horned Lark generally leaves Washington during the winter. They
return in the spring. I should say that spring for them is around mid February.
The other two stay round the lowlands until May. It is possible that the bird
that Jo saw was any one of the three subspecies. The Streaked Horned Lark is
very brightly colored, bright yellow underside with a rich chestnut collar. The
other two are much paler. The Alpine Horned Lark looks down right ghostly next
to a Streaked Horned Lark.
The reason that I mention this is that the Streaked Horned Lark is quite rare.
There is a strong possibility that it will be placed on the endangered species
list some time in the near future. They use to nest from southern BC through
the Willamette Valley of Oregon. They are believed to be extirpated from the
Puget Sound north of Tacoma. There are probably fewer than 100 pairs left in all
of Washington and and around 150 pairs in Oregon. Down from thousands that use
to breed in the Tacoma Prairies.
If anyone is interested in more information about Horned Larks in western
Washington, I can e-mail you a rather lengthy document that I wrote on the
subject. It goes into great detail about taxonomy and the historical and current
distribution in western Washington.
Russell
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Russell Rogers and Mary Moore
6637 Glenwood Drive SW
Olympia WA 98512
(360) 709-9870
mailto:rrogers at halcyon.com
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Joaw9 at aol.com wrote:
> Greets Tweets--
> I had a great time this morning/afternoon birding on Spencer Island. The
> HORNED LARK was a highlight -- the only other time I have seen one was on
> Vancouver Island last fall. We (the four other people who saw it with me
> today) were wondering if HORNED LARKs are common on Spencer Island (or in the
> Everett part of the state) or if this is something we should be phoning in to
> the RBA line. I figured it would be enough if I mentioned it here. Could
> someone please tell me how common they are around here?
> It was a perfect day. I had a total of 36 identified species. There
> were several others I couldn't identify but I'm happy with the day. I had a
> wonderful view of an AMERICAN BITTERN through my scope -- best money I ever
> spent! This morning was the second time I saw a COMMON SNIPE feeding in the
> grassy ditch in front of the brick wall surrounding the Dagmar Landing boat
> storage place. It surprises me to see them on the grass (instead of out in
> the marsh area).
> Oh well, I won't bore you any further with my trivial elation. I just
> wanted to mention the Horned Lark in case anyone else was interested.
> Pax --
> Jo Waldron
> Everett, WA
> joaw9 at aol.com
> <A HREF="http://rainforest.care2.com/">Race for the Rain Forest</A>