Bird Identification

Eastern Meadowlark

Sturnella magna L 9 ½" (24cm)

Photo by Maslowski Wildlife Productions. Listen to an eastern meadowlark.

Except in parts of the Great Plains and the Southwest, where it overlaps with its western counterpart, the eastern meadowlark is nearly unmistakable with its deep yellow chest festooned with a bold black V. The striking pattern is easiest to see when the male is singing from a fencepost, small tree, or even, on occasion, from a telephone wire. The bird spends the majority of its life on the ground in pastures, grassy fields, and drier marshes, where the subtly patterned brown back makes it inconspicuous. The only sure way to separate eastern and western meadowlarks is by song and call. The song of the eastern meadowlark is a series of loud, clear whistles, typically four notes in two pairs, see-you, see-aye and can be heard a long way. It lacks the buzzy, variable, gurgling quality of the western species. The call, most often heard when the bird is flushed from the ground, is a buzzy dzeert. In many parts of the range, the eastern meadowlark has declined significantly in the past 25 years as pastures and other short grass fields have been converted to grow crop agriculture. The northern part of the population moves south in the winter, generally abandoning areas with persistent snow cover.