Appearance
Size: 7-8" (18-20 cm). A brown ground bird, with black sideburns, two small black horns (not always noticeable), and a black breast splotch. Walks, does not hop. From overhead, pale with a black tail; folds its wings after each beat. Female and immature are duller than the male but have the same basic pattern.
Food
Feeds on small seeds from a great variety of grasses and weeds, also waste grain found in fields. Many insects are also eaten, especially in summer, when they may make up half of the total diet. Also eats some snails and berries of low-growing plants in some regions. Forages entirely by walking and running on the ground and picking up items from ground or from plants low enough to reach. Except when nesting it usually forages in flocks. | 
Horned Lark |
Habits and Breeding
Inhabits open ground, generally avoiding areas with trees or even bushes. May occur in a wide variety of situations that are sufficiently open: shortgrass prairies, extensive lawns (as on airports or golf courses), fields, beaches, lake flats, dry tundra of far north, or high mountains. Present all year in most areas from southern Canada south; some are probably permanent residents while most migrate. Migratory in the far north. One of the earliest to return in the spring.
The male defends his nesting territory by singing, either on the ground or while flying. He flies up steeply in silence, often to several hundred feet above ground, then hovers and circles for several minutes while singing then finally dives steeply toward the ground.
The nest is on open ground, often next to grass clump, piece of dried cow manure, or some other object. The nest built by the female is a slight depression lined with grass, weeds, rootlets, and with an inner lining of fine grass or plant down. One side of nest often has a flat "doorstep" of pebbles.
3-4 eggs, pale gray to greenish white, blotched and spotted with brownare laid. Incubation is done by the female and takes about 10-12 days. After hatching, the young are fed by both parents. They may leave the nest after 9-12 days, But are not able to fly for another week.
Peterson's Guide to eastern birds and Peterson Online
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