The field marks generally stated regarding the identification between Eastern
and Western Meadowlarks are:
1. Eastern - white malar, Western - yellow malar
2. Eastern - buffy flanks, Western - white flanks.
3. Eastern - more white in the tail, Western - less white int he tail
These field marks may only pertain to adult birds. The bird photographed is an
immature. The field marks separating the species may not hold true regarding
immature birds. That written, anyone who happens to be near the South jetty of
the Columbia might want to look for the subject bird. Eastern Meadowlark's
range only extends to about Minnesota, and not much further north than
Minnesota - but it isn't an impossible vagrant to Oregon. Eastern meadowlark
has never been considered a likely eventual vagrant to Oregon. That written,
the bird is worth looking at, if for nothing else than looking at a plumage of
Western Meadowlark that is not illustrated in standard field guides, and one
showing field marks inconsistent with the descriptions in the field guides for
Western Meadowlarks.
On Sep 30, 2015, at 9:34 PM, Owen Schmidt <oschmidt@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Monday the 28th several of us were birding at the South Jetty Columbia
River, Parking Lot C, where we flushed 5 meadowlarks. One of the meadowlarks
showed a lot of white in the tail in flight. I was able to photograph 2 of
them on the ground. One showed a white malar stripe, rather than the yellow
malar expected on a Western Meadowlark. I was not able to photograph the
tail.
Today I went back, found 3 meadowlarks. One of them showed a lot of white in
the tail when it flew. I was able to photograph that bird, I think, which
also shows the white (or whitish) malar stripe. I threw several of the
photos up on the Web:
http://oschmidt.net/OwenLSchmidtLLC/MEAD.html
More study is needed. This is not a rare bird alert, but a typical Western
Meadowlark has a yellow malar right up to the mandible, only 3 white outer
tail feathers, and whitish (not buffy) flanks.
oschmidt@xxxxxxx
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
