Western Meadowlark

We have a meadowlark that sings very LOUDLY and aggressively in the early mornings. Hard to ignore. It makes me laugh.
I caught him/her singing on the fence one day...



That was an awful back lit problem that I tried to improve on, so do a silhouette. It was a flat allover blue/gray color and I added a gradient of colors to it and a dash of lighting so it looks like the sun is about to rise on the horizon.

Mr Meadowlark likes to hang out on our lawn...



With this pic I tried softening the background by layering and masking with a very soft airbrush. It's a little too strong, but I kinda like the effect anyways.

On 31 May 09, I got a good back view shot of the meadowlark.



NOTES:
Meadowlark is one word.
There is an Eastern and a Western Meadowlark and enature showed both when I searched for the plains area.
However, it definitely sounds like a Western Meadowlark.

Cornell is a little clearer on the map and shows North Dakota would be a Western Meadowlark.
Eastern Meadowlark
vs
Western Meadowlark

UPDATE 22 Jul 09
*Finally* got a good front view pic of a meadowlark. Yay!
Not on our land, down by the river.