Western Meadowlark

When I took this photograph of a Western Meadowlark on 27 October 2020 at the Billy Frank Jr National Wildlife Refuge, I meant to show how camouflaged this species is against a grassy background. Even though Erika and I have seen many meadowlark backs, we were surprised by the  stunningly latticed pattern. We appluded and the meadowlark flew up and took a few encores.

“Meadowlark” is an odd name for this bird. It is not a lark, but in the same family as Red-winged Blackbirds and grackles. We have two species of meadowlarks in the United States and Canada. Eastern and Western meadowlarks can be difficult to tell apart. Fortunately, here in western Washington, we only the Western Meadowlark that sings his distinctive and gurgled, “Have you planted your wheat yet?”— Eastern birds give a drawn-out whistle. Several additional species inhabit Latin America.