Critters of the Week

Where Spotted: Malvern Hill Battlefield
Common Name: Eastern Meadowlark
Scientific Name: Sturnella magna
Length: 7.5-10.2 in (19-26 cm)
Weight: 3.2-5.3 oz (90-150 g)
Wingspan: 13.8-15.8 in (35-40 cm)

Quick Facts Courtesy of Cornell Labs

• The Eastern Meadowlark is not in the lark family (Alaudidae)—it’s a member of the blackbird family (Icteridae), which also includes cowbirds and orioles.
• A male Eastern Meadowlark typically has two mates at a time, rarely three.
• Taxonomists recognize up to 17 subspecies of Eastern Meadowlark, including one isolated population in the Southwest known as the Lillian’s Meadowlark, which lives well within the range of the Western Meadowlark.
• Although Eastern and Western Meadowlarks are nearly identical, the two species hybridize only very rarely. Mixed pairs usually occur only at the edge of the range where few mates are available.
• Where Eastern and Western meadowlark ranges overlap in the central U.S., the two species refuse to share territories. Their songs sound totally different to each other, like a foreign language, so singing doesn’t always do the job of communicating territorial boundaries. Instead, the two species are likely to fight for territorial supremacy.
• An Eastern Meadowlark male can sing several different variations of its song. In New York, the songs from one male were analyzed using spectrograms; the bird sang more than 100 different patterns of song.
• The oldest known wild Eastern Meadowlark was at least 8 years, 8 months old. It was banded in Pennsylvania in 1926, and shot in North Carolina in 1935.

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Sebastian at Richmond SPCA

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Age:  1 month
Gender: Neutered Male
Color: White / Black
ID: 49189402

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