EASTERN MEADOWLARK
(Sturnella magna)
eBird describes the Eastern Meadowlark this way: Streaked brown above with distinctive black “V” on breast and yellow below. In flight, short wings and spiky tail with white outer edges apparent. Bill is as long as the head and pointy. Beautiful song rings throughout grasslands in summer. Duller plumage in winter, blending into grasses even more. Similar to Western Meadowlark. Where ranges overlap in summer, listen for different song and look for mostly white malar (less yellow on throat) on Eastern. In winter, Eastern is more likely to be alone, rather than in a flock, and favors more extensive, pristine grasslands than Western. Eastern also has bolder, more contrasting head pattern. All About Birds offers additional descriptive information: The sweet, lazy whistles of Eastern Meadowlarks waft over summer grasslands and farms in eastern North America. The birds themselves sing from fenceposts and telephone lines or stalk through the grasses, probing the ground for insects with their long, sharp bills. On the ground, their brown-and-black dappled upperparts camouflage the birds among dirt clods and dry grasses. But up on perches, they reveal bright-yellow underparts and a striking black chevron across the chest.
I saw my first Eastern Meadowlark from Palmito Hill Road on the afternoon of June 22, 2020. I was only allowed a brief glimpse of and a marginal photo, but it was good enough for an identification. I look forward to watching this beautiful bird in the future!
“Cool Facts” About the Eastern Meadowlark From All About Birds…
- The Eastern Meadowlark is not in the lark family (Alaudidae)—it’s a member of the blackbird family (Icteridae), which also includes cowbirds and orioles.
- A male Eastern Meadowlark typically has two mates at a time, rarely three.
- Taxonomists recognize up to 17 subspecies of Eastern Meadowlark, including one isolated population in the Southwest known as the Lillian’s Meadowlark, which lives well within the range of the Western Meadowlark.
- Although Eastern and Western Meadowlarks are nearly identical, the two species hybridize only very rarely. Mixed pairs usually occur only at the edge of the range where few mates are available.
- Where Eastern and Western meadowlark ranges overlap in the central U.S., the two species refuse to share territories. Their songs sound totally different to each other, like a foreign language, so singing doesn’t always do the job of communicating territorial boundaries. Instead, the two species are likely to fight for territorial supremacy.
- An Eastern Meadowlark male can sing several different variations of its song. In New York, the songs from one male were analyzed using spectrograms; the bird sang more than 100 different patterns of song.
- The oldest known wild Eastern Meadowlark was at least 8 years, 8 months old. It was banded in Pennsylvania in 1926, and shot in North Carolina in 1935.