Western Meadowlark Potpourri
On my last post which featured closeups of mating Lark Sparrows, long-time follower of my blog Tana Hunter asked “How about getting this close to some meadowlarks?” Her request reminded me that I’ve posted very few images of Western Meadowlarks in the 19 months I’ve been blogging so I did a little digging and these images are what I came up with. It’s another relatively long post but with this weather and its attendant crappy light I can’t be out shooting birds so I might as well be playing around with their images to take some of the sting out of my cabin fever… Here are a few interesting factual tidbits about Western Meadowlarks to hopefully get you in the mood: Although early explorers (including Lewis and Clark) were aware of the existence of the Western Meadowlark, it was subsequently ignored by most naturalists of the day so when John James Audubon gave the bird its Latin name, he chose Sturnella neglecta (the species name in recognition of that lack of attention) The Western Meadowlark is not a lark (though it is a gifted songster); instead it is most closely related to the blackbirds When probing into soil for food, these birds force their long bills into the ground and then the mandibles are spread apart, opening and loosening the soil to make food more obtainable They are particularly fond of sprouting grain in farmers fields. They bore into the soil with the long bill, grasp the soft germinating seed and then crush it to obtain the milk and usually discard…