Though not a lark but a member of the sparrow family, the Lark Bunting is a true prairie grassland bird. It breeds during the summer across the upper Midwestern shortgrass prairie, sagebrush, and shrubsteppe. Males are all black with white on their wings, easily spotted flying up from grasses or shrubs to sing his courtship display. Females are more similar to other sparrows, streaky brown with a whitish chest.
Though you won’t find these buntings in your backyard, they do occasionally flock with other sparrows during their migration south to the Southern U.S. into Mexico. They seem to tolerate drought; it’s been documented that Lark Buntings increased in numbers during the Dust Bowl of 1937 while other wildlife declined majorly.
Lark Buntings nest in groups, unlike most other songbirds. The ratio of males to females dictates how pairs mate, and unmated males may even help bring food to the young of a mated pair. Nests are jointly built at the vase of a small shrub, and young are mostly fed insects. They otherwise forage for seeds on the ground or strip them from grasses and forbs. Though they nest close to other pairs, they aggressively defend their immediate nest territory.
Original mixed media on raw stretched canvas with maple float frame.
Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/
https://www.audubon.org/bird-guide