Lark Bunting

About the Lark Bunting

The Lark Bunting is the bird of the shortgrass plains - the state bird of Colorado that pours south into Texas each winter, roaming the Panhandle, South Plains, and Trans-Pecos in restless, rolling flocks that swirl along fence lines like blowing leaves.

Winter birds are streaky gray-brown sparrows at first glance, but every one carries the tell: a bold white or buffy wing patch that flashes with each wingbeat and makes a passing flock glitter. Males in spring transform entirely, turning jet black with brilliant white wing patches - a plumage some flocks are already acquiring before they head north.

On the breeding grounds males perform a famous floating song-flight, rising and then drifting down on stiff wings while singing - the "lark" of the name. Texas mostly sees the sociable winter side of the species: flocks working weedy roadsides and grain stubble for seeds, packing tightly onto barbed-wire fences between feeding bouts.

Lark Bunting numbers swing widely from winter to winter with rain and seed crops, so a big flock year on the High Plains always feels like an event.