Snow, snow and more snow. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this much snow during the month of December. Nothing brings Horned Larks, Lapland Longspurs and Snow Buntings together in fields like freshly spread manure after a snowfall. Along Meffert Road this morning, I found a mixed flock of all three species enjoying the hearty banquet of undigested seeds and grain.
Since the dawn of civilization, birds have inspired our creativity through art, poetry and music, and yet there they were picking through it. As much as they seem to enjoy and benefit from it, there’s just something sort of “eww” about watching birds in manure. Hey, I worked on a farm…it’s not like I have a problem with manure or anything. I’m just saying…
By coincidence, just after I published this blog entry I found a funny Horned Lark blog post by Bill Thompson III. Continue reading about manure and larks with “Smells like Horned Larks.”
Horned Lark image © 2005 Michael McDowell