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Eastern Meadowlark
Sturnella magna
33.7309, -96.7732
Field Notes
Description:
Eastern Meadowlarks are chunky, medium-sized songbirds with short tails and long, spear-shaped bills. In flight, their rounded wings, short tails, and long bills help set them apart from other grassland songbirds.
They are pale brown marked with black, with bright-yellow underparts and a bold black V across the chest. Though most of the tail is brown with blackish barring, the outer feathers are white and conspicuous during flight.
Habitat:
Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, a haven for migratory birds and other wildlife, lies on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, on the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas. The refuge is made up of water, marsh, and upland habitat.
Notes:
A male Eastern Meadowlark typically has two mates at a time, and on rare occasion, three.
The scientific name Sturnella magna is Latin for, rather confusingly, "large little starling", the generic name having being given due to the meadowlarks' behavior being similar to starlings.
Up to 17 subspecies are recognized by taxonomists.
A group of meadowlarks are collectively known as a "pod" of meadowlarks.
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