The Horned Lark is best monitored in Canada by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), which provides good coverage in the prairies and southern British Columbia but does not cover the arctic or alpine breeding range of this wide-ranging bird. The Horned Lark is also monitored by the Christmas Bird Count, which covers the species' winter range in the United States, where most of the species breeds and winters, but includes birds from the Canadian arctic. The results from both surveys indicate a long-term, continuous decrease in numbers since 1970. However, because the entire population is not well covered in Canada the reliability of this assessment is considered medium. At the regional level, all Bird Conservation Regions for which there are reasonably reliable BBS results also show a large decrease in population over the same time period. The Horned Lark population, which includes all subspecies except the strigata subspecies, are below the lowest acceptable levels relative to their national population goals. The national goal is based on BBS results (see Canada graph below). The strigata goal, outlined in the Recovery Strategy, is to establish and maintain a breeding population of at least 10 breeding pairs, distributed across a minimum of three sites, within the historical Canadian breeding range (ECCC 2016).
Additional information on: Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) - Canadian analysis
Additional information on: Christmas Bird Count (CBC)
