Mystery Bird: Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna

Western Meadowlark; white malar

Huh. According to my trusty big Sibley, it's the _eastern_ meadowlark that has the "mostly white malar". The western is shown with more yellow there.

I'm wouldn't be willing to risk even my lunch money on it, but if I had to pick one (which I guess I do), I'd pick eastern. But in the real world I'd use my ears, and be much more confident of the ID.

My National Geographic field guide says of the Western, "in spring and summer yellow extends well into the submoustachial area, especially in males." If the photo was taken in March, makes me think it's Eastern. But I also wouldn't bet my lunch money on it.

Right: Eastern; I got confused.

Dang, I'll take your words for it, but I was hoping it was a Western. I miss the heck out of them, these local Easterns aren't up to snuff, songwise. I remember reading somewhere that there are separate eastern species or subspecies, a pocket of them got cut off during the last ice age. rb

Is it an Eastern? Westerns look more round/less stripey to me. (Or at least the one on my drivers license does...which is why it's obvious I am pretty lacking in knowledge about birds.)

Just thought I'd point out a couple of extra things on this bird that make it appear extra interesting.

First, I agree with the consensus that this is an Eastern Meadowlark. The white malar is the only solid field mark visible from this angle. The apparent contrast between the crown stripes and the supercilium also fit Eastern better, but this is a tricky thing to judge.

What I find interesting about the bird is that the flanks appear quite clean white (Sibley's suggests a buffy wash for Easterns, white for Westerns -- I have to admit I haven't bothered to look that closely at our local Easterns), with just a few spots and/or streaks. If anything that is suggestive of Western. Which just goes to show, sometimes the birds don't read the book.