Lark Bunting

Calamospiza melanocorys Stejneger, 1885

Lark Bunting, Calamospiza melanocorys, breeds across central Canada and the mid-western United States and moves south to north-central Mexico outside the breeding season. It is a passerine in the New World sparrow family, and Leonhard Hess Stejneger gave it its present scientific name in 1885. The species is the state bird of Colorado. In breeding plumage, males are black with a bold white wing patch, while females and nonbreeding males are grey-brown with pale striping. It nests on the ground in grassy places, usually in scattered colonies.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Passerellidae — New World Sparrows

Breeding range

North America: sc Canada to sc USA

Nonbreeding range

to nc Mexico