This is bird note.

A high-pitched tinkling bird song floats across an open landscape of short grasses.

But strangely, there's no singer inside.

Our bird, a male-horned lark, is a hundred feet in the air,

hovering, wings fluttering, circling against the blue sky.

Now the bird is gliding steeply,

head long toward the ground,

flaring its wings at the last instant to break the dive.

Horned larks, roughly the size of sparrows, rival meadow larks as the most colorful birds of North American grasslands.

The male's bright yellow face is framed by crisp black sideburns.

And, true to its name, the horned lark does have horns, of a sort.

When in the mood, the male erects pointed black feathers

above its eyes, giving it a devilish demeanor.

Horned larks live in prairies, fields, and tundra. Agriculture and development

now intrude on many of the Horned larks traditional nesting areas. However, programs that

replenish grasslands and set aside croplands can be a boon to this exquisite bird.

Learn more and see a picture of a horned lark at our website bird note.org.

I'm Mary McCann.

Bird note gives you the sounds of birds every day

and you get the sights as well when you follow us on Instagram at

Bird Note Radio.