Eastern Meadowlark Images

Eastern Meadowlark Images, Facts and Information:

Sturnella magna

• Eastern Meadowlarks are medium-sized songbirds with short tails, long, pointed bills, and stout bodies. They have brown, streaked upperparts, yellow underparts with a bold black “V” on the chest, and white outer tail feathers that flash in flight. Males and females have similar plumage, though males are slightly larger.
• Eastern Meadowlarks are short-distance migrators and year-round residents in parts of their range. Populations in the central and southern U.S. are largely nonmigratory, while northern populations migrate southward in winter. Their range extends from the Great Lakes and New England south to Florida and west to the Great Plains.
• Eastern Meadowlarks prefer grasslands, meadows, hayfields, pastures, prairies, and airport fields. They favor open country with low to moderate vegetation.
• Eastern Meadowlarks eat insects, seeds, and grains. In summer they feed mainly on grasshoppers, beetles, crickets, caterpillars, and spiders. In winter, they eat seeds and waste grain.
• Eastern Meadowlarks nest on the ground in tall grass. Females build dome-shaped nests of grass with side entrances. They lay 3 to 5 eggs which hatch in 13 to 15 days. Both parents feed the young.
• A group of meadowlarks can be called a “group”, “platoon”, or “cluster” of meadowlarks.
• The oldest known Eastern Meadowlark lived at least 9 years and 9 months.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Eastern Meadowlark photos.