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Bird

Horned Lark

Eremophila alpestris

Lives in West Virginia all year and nests here. Found in all 55 counties, across 3 habitats.

Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 55 counties
Habitats
3

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
All year
Nesting
Nests here
Range
All 55 counties
Habitats
3
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in West Virginia 3

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 3

Mountain balds

Treeless grassy or shrubby summits and ridges in the high mountains.

SummerWinterSouthern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

SummerWinterDeveloped, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed, Non-specific; Ruderal Upland - Old Field

Shale barrens

Steep, sun-baked slopes of loose shale with sparse oaks and Virginia pine and their own endemic wildflowers. Linked only where the source names shale barrens; calcareous shale stays with the limestone glades.

SummerWinter
Other habitats in its models (35)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in West Virginia. Those recorded in West Virginia first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (22)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
  • Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Summer and winter.
  • Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Dry Chalk Bluff Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Florida Dry Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Summer and winter.
  • Louisiana Beach Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer and winter.
  • Southeast Florida Beach Summer and winter.
  • Southwest Florida Beach Summer and winter.
  • Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer and winter.
  • Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Summer and winter.
  • West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Summer and winter.
Northeast (1)
  • Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer.
Midwest (1)
  • Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer and winter.
Land cover and other classes (11)
  • Barren Land Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Summer and winter.
  • Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Recently Burned Grassland Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in West Virginia

  • Year-round: nests here, in all 55 counties.

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

Native plants in these genera 7

Plant genera in its diet records (7)
  • Setaria Seeds. 5 diet records. 1 native plant in West Virginia
  • Ambrosia Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in West Virginia
  • Avena Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in West Virginia
  • Fagopyrum Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in West Virginia
  • Polygonum Seeds. 1 diet record. 4 native plants in West Virginia
  • Triticum Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in West Virginia
  • Zea Seeds. 1 diet record. 0 native plants in West Virginia

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in West Virginia, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 89

Plants 905

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in West Virginia

Mountain balds

Birds 27

Plants 65

All of mountain balds in West Virginia

Shale barrens

Birds 22

Plants 36

All of shale barrens in West Virginia

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources