Western Meadowlark Song Cornell | Slide Mouse
The most obvious characters that distinguishes the two species are vocal.
Western meadowlark song cornell. Males develop a repertoire of up to a dozen songs and may switch the songs they sing in response to an intruder. Look but especially listen for meadowlarks in the open country and natural prairies of the west. Male have a repertoire of songs singing one song repeatedly for a time and then switching to a different version. The buoyant flutelike melody of the western meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone s day.
Meadowlarks are often more easily heard than seen unless you spot a male singing from a fence post. It s a bird of grass and sage lands fields and pastures meadows and prairies a bird of open habitats. Male western meadowlarks have a complex two phrase primary song that begins with 1 6 pure whistles and descends to a series of 1 5 gurgling warbles. Indeed the song of the western meadowlark can be rightly acclaimed the essential musical theme of much of the west.
This colorful member of the blackbird family flashes a vibrant yellow breast crossed by a distinctive black v shaped band. Visual differences are more subtle but they do exist. The songs are quite different as are the call notes.