Colorado State Bird

Colorado designated the Lark Bunting in 1931 because of its prairie-centered identity and the way its white-winged display fits Colorado's open eastern grasslands. It was a practical symbolic choice: familiar to residents, visible across much of the state, and easy to connect with local schools, gardens, farms, parks, or conservation culture.

Breeding males turn mostly black with a bright white wing patch, while females and nonbreeding birds look streaked and sparrowlike but still long-winged and elegant. In Colorado, it looks especially at home across the shortgrass prairie, high plains, and open ranch country east of the mountains.

They favor open prairie, sing from shrubs or fence posts, and nest on the ground in grasslands with enough structure to hide a nest. It uses shortgrass prairie, mixed-grass rangeland, and open agricultural grassland well, which helps explain why the bird feels familiar well beyond protected areas.

In Colorado, start with Pawnee National Grassland, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, and Comanche National Grassland. Scan low shrubs and fence lines for a singing bird that flashes a white wing patch in flight. Late spring and early summer are best because display flights and territorial singing make the species far easier to find. These kinds of places match the bird's preferred mix of shortgrass prairie, mixed-grass rangeland, and open agricultural grassland.

The Lark Bunting is currently listed as LC. Lark Buntings still define many prairie landscapes, but grassland conversion, drought, and heavy disturbance around nest sites can suppress local breeding success.