Eastern Meadowlark

Sturnella magna

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family ICTERIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The clear, melodious whistles of the Eastern Meadowlark are a familiar and welcome sound across farms and grasslands in eastern North America. Eastern and Western meadowlarks are closely related; the two species are very difficult to distinguish except by voice and location, but they do not readily hybridize where their ranges meet.

Cool Facts

• A male Eastern Meadowlark typically has two mates at a time, and on rare occasion, three.
• Up to 17 subspecies of Eastern Meadowlark are recognized by taxonomists.

• The Eastern Meadowlark is not a lark (family Alaudidae) but rather a member of the family Icteridae, along with blackbirds and orioles.

Description

• Size: 19-26 cm (7-10 in)
• Wingspan: 35-40 cm (14-16 in)
• Weight: 90-150 g (3.18-5.3 ounces)

• Medium-sized stocky songbird with a short tail.
• Throat, chest, and belly yellow.
• Black "V" across chest.
• Back brown and streaked.
• Outer tail feathers white.

• Bill long and slender.
• Long legs and toes.
• Crown dark with light stripe down middle.
• Light eyebrow, yellow in front of eye.
• Flanks white with dark streaking.
• Eyes black.
• Legs pink.
• Outer wing and tail feathers partly barred with black and brown.
• Buffy edging to feathers in fall wears off during winter, revealing bright pattern.
• Wing beats are shallow and stiff.

Sex Differences

Sexes similar; females smaller, with shorter wings.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult, but with head stripes less sharp, paler overall, and with dusky spots or flecks on chest instead of black V.

Similar Species

• Western Meadowlark extremely similar, but paler, with thinner black barring on wings and tail feathers, and mostly yellow mustache stripe beside the yellow throat instead of white. Songs and calls different, with the song of the Western Meadowlark being more complex and musical.

Sound

Song consists of plaintive, clear whistles, slurred and nearly always descending at the end. Call notes include a short, abrupt buzz and a rattling chatter.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in eastern and central North America, from southern Quebec to central Minnesota and from Florida to southeast Arizona. Also breeds in Mexico and parts of Central America and the Caribbean.

Winter Range

Resident year-round in much of its breeding range, except Quebec, New England, and the Great Lakes region.

Habitat

Grasslands, pastures, and hayfields, as well as croplands, golf courses, and other open habitat.

Food

Insects, especially grasshoppers and crickets, as well as insect larvae and grubs.

Behavior

Foraging

Feeds on the ground, picking insects from the surface and also probing in the soil.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest, constructed by female alone, is built on the ground of grasses woven into surrounding vegetation. Structure varies; nest often has an arch or roof, and sometimes has a runway leading to the opening.

Egg Description

White, with variable speckles or spots.

Clutch Size

2-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse down.

Conservation Status

Declining drastically throughout most of range, probably because of habitat loss.

Other Names

Sturnelle des prés (French)
Triguera común (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Lanyon, W. E. 1995. Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna). In The Birds of North America, No. 160 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.