Horned Lark / Eremophila alpestris

Now that I see this image in this size, I see that the awful graininess looks worse than ever, lol! This "artistic effect" is the result of "heat wave distortion" (not sure what the proper term is). I very rarely get to photograph Horned Larks, so wanted to add this to my Birds of Alberta Set.

After nine days at home, giving my stitches from minor surgery a chance to heal, an invitation by friends Cathy and Terry to go birding on 7 March 2014 was welcomed with open arms - as it always is! What a great day we had, searching SE of the city, and finding some really neat birds. Most were impossible to photograph because of distance, but also because we had "heat wave" distortion all day long, making it impossible to get photos that were sharp. It was one of those amazing days, out of the house from 7:15 a.m. till about 8:15 in the evening. By the end of the day, we had seen a total count of 19 owls, from three species - 8 Short-eared Owls, 8 Snowy Owls, 2 Great Horned Owls and one mystery owl. We couldn't decide if the latter was a Snowy Owl or a Short-eared Owl, as it was perched on top of a metal silo, way off in the distance. I sent a very poor photo of it to a very experienced birder friend and he identified it as a Snowy Owl. We missed a good photo opp with one of the Short-eared Owls, when we were pulled over, further down the road than several other photographers. We did see one down on the ground near the edge of the road in a different place, hiding in the dried grasses, but, again, my photo is blurry.

Also saw a Prairie Falcon perched on top of a metal silo and lots of Horned Larks - the latter constantly in flight or down on the road ahead of us or near the edge of a field.

As you will no doubt agree, it was an amazing day! Thanks so much, Cathy and Terry, for another rewarding day (which had started off rather slowly down in that area). Lots of fun!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horned_Lark

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/horned_lark/id