Western Meadowlarks are difficult to identify from Eastern Meadowlarks, especially at a distance, however they are easy to recognize with their melodic song.

When I walk wooded trails during the bird breeding season, at least half of peeps, yodels, buzzes, and trills leave me scratching my head or scrolling through Merlin in search of the species that make them. This is less so of the grasslands at Goose Pond. It’s where I live! I’ve learned that sparrow faces are very similar, but you can still identify them by their slightly different choices in makeup pallet. Species of ducks even have their own distinctive wing beats.

Around May 24, while hiking up the hill from the Prairie Lane residence to the young oak savanna, I heard something new. It was like a thrush, pleasing and flutelike, but not as long, not as frequent, and certainly not in the right habitat. I made a mental note of this new sound, but didn’t think much more about it. For the next several days I heard the same bird most mornings and evenings from the Wingspan Pavillion, the turn around at Prairie Lane, and even my bedroom window. On June 7, my bird perched in an oak tree next to the garage. It sang with gusto, and the nearby metal roof amplified the sound as if I was in a concert setting. It flew out of the back of the tree and out of my line of sight, but my brother spotted it from a different angle saying it looked much like a meadowlark. Of course!

*Western Meadowlark photo by Wendy Miller*

Neither of us had heard a western meadowlark before, but we were certain after checking their song. This individual has been a sporadic visitor over the last week and a half. I last heard him on the morning of June 15 after an absence of four days.

-Graham

Spike Millington on eBird reported a Western Meadowlark at Goose Pond in early June, and on June 11th at 7:00 a.m. the six Prairie Partner Interns were treated to seeing and hearing the Western Meadowlark on top of the Wingspan observation area. Intern Luke DeBiasio submitted an eBird report for the interns: “The Western Meadowlark was singing prominently the whole time, Robotic, R2D2-like call distinct from the more musical song of the Eastern Meadowlark.”

In 1991, Sam Robbins wrote in Wisconsin Birdlife that Western Meadowlarks were “Abundant migrants south and west; common migrants east and north. Abundant summer residents south and west; common summer residents east; fairly common summer residents north.” “From a virtually unknown stranger to one of the 10 most abundant breeding birds in Wisconsin: this is the dramatic story of the Western Meadowlark during the past 100 years.” Western Meadowlarks were reported nesting in St. Croix and Dunn Counties in the 1880’s but “Kumlien and Hollister (1903) spoke of it only as a fall migrant in the eastern part of the state”.

Naturalist observations and citizen science surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) are important in tracking the history of many bird species.

The BBS through 1976 included 14 transects that regularly produced over 40 individuals through heavily cropped farmland, highly favored by this bird. However, Sam reported that “BBS results also point to a dramatic decline in summer populations, especially since 1976. Whereas the Eastern Meadowlark shows a preference for untilled pasture, the Western tends to concentrate on drier upland cultivated lands-particularly grainfields”. The decrease in grain fields has probably been responsible for the great decline in the “grassland” bird. Sam wrote “ In St. Croix County, where the Western probably gained its first foothold in Wisconsin, I estimated that the Western outnumbered the Eastern at least 50:1.” He also wrote that if the trend of conversion of considerable pasture and small-grain land to corn production continues, the Western Meadowlark will soon lose its position as one of the10 most abundant summer species and its “abundant” classification. Sauer reported that in Wisconsin that the BBS from 1980 to 2000 found an annual decline of 9.4%.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology reports “Although Western Meadowlarks are numerous, their breeding populations declined over 1% per year between 1966 and 2015, resulting in a cumulative decline of 48%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 85 million with 84% spending part of the year in the U.S., 25% in Mexico, and 9% in Canada. The species rates a 10 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score and is not on the 2016 State of North America's Birds' Watch List. Declines may be due in part to conversion of grassland breeding and wintering habitat to housing and agricultural uses. Other factors affecting Western Meadowlark populations may include pesticide uses, habitat degradation due to invasive plant species, and fire suppression that alters native grasslands.”

The first Breeding WI Bird Atlas from 1995-2000 confirmed nesting in 53 priority blocks while in the second Breeding Bird Atlas westerns were only confirmed in 12 priority of the 1,283 priority blocks. Westerns were confirmed in one priority block in Columbia County in Atlas I. In Atlas II there were only two reports of singing males, both from 2016. One was found by Amy Staffen on a roadside point count near Wyocena and Charlie Luthin found one in the Lodi area.

The first eBird report and high count of Western Meadowlarks at Goose Pond is from Bill Hillsenhoff on May 11, 1958 who found 15 Western Meadowlarks along with 15 Eastern Meadowlarks. There is also a November 2015 report of a western along a roadside at Goose Pond.

Sue reports hearing western meadowlarks more frequently during the 1980s at Goose Pond saying, “there were always a few westerns around and their songs were wonderful to hear.” We like to vacation in South and North Dakota and enjoy seeing large numbers of Western Meadowlarks.

It would be nice to see Western Meadowlarks breed at Goose Pond Sanctuary however it appears they prefer shorter grass than the tall grass of the mesic prairie restorations.

Written by Mark Martin and Susan Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident co-managers, and Graham Steinhauer Goose Pond Sanctuary land steward

Cover photo by USFWS Mountain-Prairie

Migration

Resident to medium-distant migrant, traveling mainly in small flocks. Western Meadowlarks leave breeding grounds in the northern part of their range (Canada and the northern U.S.) to winter farther south. Small numbers may overwinter in the north during mild years. Those living at high elevation move to lower elevations in winter.

Migration info and map courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology