On a...you know
January 6th, 2014
When I read on Gillian's blog of a tame flock of Horned Larks off Old Richmond Road, I rushed out to look for them the next day, -22C weather be damned. Larks are uncommon in our area and usually quite skittish. I've visited their small breeding population in Richmond in spring, and listened to their strange, tinkling flight songs as they spiralled up, then dove back into the field. They always kept their distance from me.
This group was, indeed, delightfully tame, seemingly unwilling to go far from the exposed grain that they were feasting on (which happened to be right next to the road.) To a ground-feeding bird in a landscape buried in snow, such a thing must be a gold mine. As I approached the flock resting on a snowy hummock, they flushed one by one--but only to go eat. I decided not to push it after that. It seemed unkind to persistently stalk birds that were already coping with so many extremes.
January 6th, 2014
When I read on Gillian's blog of a tame flock of Horned Larks off Old Richmond Road, I rushed out to look for them the next day, -22C weather be damned. Larks are uncommon in our area and usually quite skittish. I've visited their small breeding population in Richmond in spring, and listened to their strange, tinkling flight songs as they spiralled up, then dove back into the field. They always kept their distance from me.
This group was, indeed, delightfully tame, seemingly unwilling to go far from the exposed grain that they were feasting on (which happened to be right next to the road.) To a ground-feeding bird in a landscape buried in snow, such a thing must be a gold mine. As I approached the flock resting on a snowy hummock, they flushed one by one--but only to go eat. I decided not to push it after that. It seemed unkind to persistently stalk birds that were already coping with so many extremes.
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Mike
January 7th, 2014 at 12:50 am
They look cold... and perhaps a bit irked by the weather.