Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark, breeding plumage

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Eastern Meadowlark, nonbreeding plumage, TX, November

Eastern Meadowlark nest

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

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.

Description

• 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.

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

Sex Differences

Sexes similar; females smaller, with shorter wings.

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.

Conservation Status

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

Other Names

Sturnelle des prés (French)
Triguera común (Spanish)

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.

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.