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Platte River Status: An abundant migrant and common nesting species. Occurrence dates at the Mormon Island Crane Meadows, Hall County, are from 4 May to 5 October. Lark sparrow is a common summer resident in the canyonlands of Lincoln County where occurrence dates extend from 16 April to 11 October (Tout 1947). Rosche (1979) found lark sparrow in the lower North Platte River Valley during 6 May to 2 September.

Breeding Range: A common (locally abundant) nesting species in the Sandhills and on the Western Plain. Fairly common on the Dissected Plain of southern Lincoln County; uncommon and local in the Platte River Valley and Eastern Plain.

Breeding Population: Lark sparrow ranked 18th in total abundance among all species nesting in the study area in 1979-1980. The estimated 51,000 pairs made up 1.7% of the total bird population.

Habitat: We found the highest mean breeding densities of lark sparrow in upland prairie (4.2 pairs/km²), followed by lowland forest (0.2 pairs/km²). Optimum nesting habitat in western Kansas included woodland edge and medium-height grassland (Rising 1974). Stewart (1975) characterized lark sparrow nesting habitat in North Dakota as edge complexes including wood margins or thickets of trees and shrubs and adjoining tracts of grassland or weedy fields. We found nesting lark sparrow in the Sandhills particularly numerous in native grasslands dominated by sand bluestem and soapweed yucca. Graber and Graber (1983) described lark sparrow as a versatile nesting species in Illinois, although the species distribution was probably governed by the local distribution of sandy and other poor soils. Lark sparrow showed no decided habitat preference, partly because of the soil requirement.

Effect of Habitat Alteration: Conversion of yucca-dominated grasslands to agricultural crop production presents the primary threat to the continued existence of lark sparrow in the Platte River Valley.

Nesting Data: Mean clutch size among 8 lark sparrow nests found in Lincoln County was 4.3 eggs during 19 May to 23 June (Tout 1947). Peak egg laying in western Kansas occurs between mid May and early July; the bulk of lark sparrow broods are present 20-30 May and 20 June to 10 July, indicative of first and second broods (Rising 1974). Egg dates in Kansas range from 1 May to 20 July (Johnsgard 1979).