Mystery Bird: Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna

Off topic--do you know if that background blur is photoshop (or equivalent) or incredibly talented and fortunate setup? With f/8.0, I was expecting more detail in the background, but it is also evident from foreground blur that this is a pretty narrow depth of field.

knowing the photographer's work, i find it incredibly unlikely that photoshop is involved. i'd guess it is an "incredibly talented and fortunate setup" and probably a huge lens as well. (i'll ask joseph what he did, but he's relocating at the moment, so he probably won't answer).

Well, it's either a western or eastern meadowlark. :-)

Going by the date and location, the Sibley range maps would make eastern much more likely. Add to that the "mostly white malar" that Sibley talks about, and that this bird seems to show, and I'm willing to go with eastern.

But I wouldn't want to bet the house on it.

Given the contrast between the white malar and the yellow throat, I would be willing to call it an Eastern on the basis of the malar stripe -- a breeding plumaged Western would show a strong invasion of yellow just behind the bill on the malar. Unfortunately, in the fall or winter, the yellow and white colors are obscured by the tips of fresh feathers, and this mark becomes useless. Given the date here, that doesn't seem to be an issue. That same contrast also seems to rule out juveniles -- it appears that they resemble fall adults. It does appear as if there is some active molt going on as well.

There is another set of marks that is useful for these two species, and you can see them here. On the tertials and the central tail feathers, Westerns would show much thinner dark bars without any hint of a dark stripe down the middle. (At least in Texas.) This bird shows dark bars that nearly join at the shaft on the tertials, and definite dark central stripes on the tail feathers.

Westerns also have one fewer white tail feather on each side, but this is impossible to judge unless the tail is spread, which it isn't here. (Unfortunately, this mark is usually only visible in flight, and my eyes, at least, aren't quick enough to count feathers at that point.)