Lark Bunting

Calamospiza melanocorys

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family EMBERIZIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A common sparrow of the Great Plains, the male Lark Bunting is distinctive with its black body and white wings. It is the only sparrow that changes completely out of a bright breeding plumage into a drab winter one.

Cool Facts

• Immature Lark Buntings flock together and stay on the breeding grounds longer than do adults.
• The Lark Bunting often comes to drink out of water tanks provided for livestock. While the water may be helpful, the tank can be a dangerous place. Large numbers of buntings often drown in the tanks, especially in those containing mats of algae. Domestic cats also hunt there; one cat in Kansas caught 17 Lark Buntings in one day.

Description

• Size: 14-18 cm (6-7 in)
• Wingspan: 28 cm (11 in)
• Weight: 30-51 g (1.06-1.8 ounces)

• Small songbird; medium-sized sparrow.
• Short, thick, bluish bill.
• Large white patch in wings.
• Relatively short tail with white tips to feathers.
• Breeding male all black with white wings.
• Female and nonbreeding male grayish brown and heavily striped.

• Bill light bluish gray with dark tip.
• Eyes dark brown.
• Legs and feet brown.

Sex Differences

Breeding male black with white wings, female dull gray and white striped.

Male

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Body all black. Large white patch on upper part of wing. Tail black, tipped white.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Grayish brown and darkly streaked above. White below with large dark streaks on chest and sides. White patch in wings. Chin black. Black extending to belly feathers, but mostly hidden by white feather edging.

Female

Grayish brown and darkly streaked above. White below with large dark streaks on chest and sides. White patch in wings.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult female, but buffier overall.

Similar Species

• Male Bobolink also black-and-white, but back is white, not wings.
• Female Chestnut-collared and McCown's longspurs similar to female Lark Bunting, but are mostly unstreaked on underside and have white at base, not tips of tail feathers.

Sound

Song a complex series of repeated, rich, whistled phrases interspersed with rattles and trills.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in Great Plains from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to northern Texas and northeastern New Mexico.

Winter Range

Winters from southern Great Plains to central Mexico.

Habitat

Plains, prairies, meadows and sagebrush. Winters in cultivated lands, brushy areas, and desert.

Food

Insects, seeds, grain, and some fruits.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds on ground; strongly avoids feeding under cover. Some flycatching.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Loose bowl of grass, fine roots, and plant stems, lined with fine grasses or hair. Placed in scrape on ground, rim level with ground. Usually under shrub.

Egg Description

Unmarked light blue.

Clutch Size

2-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse gray down.

Conservation Status

Populations fluctuate widely in any given area, but overall populations appear to be declining.

Other Names

Bruant noir et blanc (French)
Gorrión cañero, Gorrión alipálido, Llanero alipálido (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Shane, T. G. 2000. Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys). In The Birds of North America, No. 542 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.