Colorado State Bird
Colorado has mountains, bald eagles, and golden eagles. It also has prairie falcons, red-tailed hawks, and sandhill cranes passing through twice a year.
The state chose a small black-and-white grassland bird instead.
That decision was made in 1931, and honestly, the more you look at it, the more it makes sense.
What Is the Lark Bunting
The Lark Bunting — Calamospiza melanocorys — is a sparrow-sized bird native to the Great Plains. Males in breeding plumage are jet black with a large white wing patch. That combination is striking in a way that surprises people who expect sparrows to be brown and forgettable.
Females are streaky brown, as many female sparrows are. But the males, from late spring through summer on the eastern Colorado plains, look like something that belongs on a flag.
Colorado made it their flag. Or close enough.
Where You Find Them in Colorado
Colorado State Bird
Eastern Colorado. Not the mountains — the shortgrass prairie that most visitors fly over or drive through without stopping.
That’s the habitat Lark Buntings were built for. They nest in open grasslands from May through July, often in colonies where several pairs occupy adjacent territories. The males sing a distinctive, complex song from fence posts and from the air during display flights — rising and falling in wide arcs over the grass while calling.
By August or September, most have moved south into New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico for winter. The prairie looks empty again.
The Breeding Male Up Close
In winter plumage, males look like streaky females — the jet black is gone, replaced by brown and buff tones. This confuses people who see them in winter and don’t recognize the bird.
In spring, the transformation is complete. The black comes in, the white wing patches stand out against it, and the male Lark Bunting in full breeding plumage looks genuinely different from most birds you’ll encounter anywhere on the plains.
The bill is thick and cone-shaped — a seed-cracker’s bill. The body is stocky. The tail is medium-length. Nothing about it says “Colorado mountain bird,” but Colorado is a large state, and the eastern third of it is flat and grassy and old in a way the mountains aren’t.
Why Colorado Chose It
In 1931, Colorado schoolchildren voted on the state bird. The Lark Bunting won.
At the time, the bird was common and visible across the eastern plains — a familiar presence for the farming and ranching communities that made up much of Colorado’s rural population. The mountains got their share of attention. The plains got the state bird.
There’s something worth noting in that choice. The state could have gone with something dramatic — a raptor, a hummingbird, something people photograph. Instead: a grassland sparrow that sings well and disappears in winter.
Colorado has been defending that choice for nearly a century. The bird earned it.
Conservation Status
Lark Bunting populations have declined significantly since the mid-20th century. Grassland birds as a group have been among the hardest-hit by agricultural intensification, habitat fragmentation, and drought cycles on the Great Plains. The Lark Bunting is not endangered, but it’s no longer as abundant as it was when Colorado schoolchildren voted it into office.
That fact is worth sitting with. State birds are sometimes species we’re slowly losing ground with. The Lark Bunting is still out there — still singing over the eastern Colorado shortgrass in June — but the prairie it depends on keeps shrinking.
Identification at a Glance
- Male (breeding): Jet black body, large white wing patch, thick bill
- Male (winter): Brown and streaky, white wing patch still visible but smaller
- Female: Streaky brown, white wing patch, similar to winter male
- Size: Sparrow-sized, stocky
- Song: Complex, melodic, delivered from perch or display flight
FAQ
What is Colorado’s state bird?
The Lark Bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys), designated in 1931 after a vote by Colorado schoolchildren.
Where can you see Lark Buntings in Colorado?
Eastern Colorado shortgrass prairie from late spring through summer. They leave for the winter, wintering in New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico.
What does a male Lark Bunting look like?
In breeding plumage: jet black with a large white wing patch. In winter: streaky brown with a smaller white wing patch visible.
Is the Lark Bunting rare?
Not rare, but declining. Grassland bird populations have dropped significantly across the Great Plains due to habitat loss.
For more on state birds and North American bird identification, see our guide on 15 spring birds to watch for in your backyard.
MD Imdadul Haque is the founder of BirdzFly, a research-backed resource on North American backyard birds. Drawing on years of independent study into bird identification, behavior, and migration patterns, he writes in-depth guides designed to help US birders understand the species in their own backyards — from common feeder visitors to seasonal migrants passing through.
