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ABA Online Bird Photo Quiz 29
ANSWER
There are not that many birds with a bright yellow throat, bright yellow lores, and heavily patterned brown and black upperparts. While Yellow-throated and Grace's Warblers may come close in throat pattern, the intricately patterned upperparts, and more importantly, the long pointed bill really only leave us with Eastern and Western Meadowlarks.
When I was growing up (not really ALL that long ago), the conventional wisdom was that meadowlarks couldn't be separated except by voice. While vocalizations still are among the most reliable ways to separate meadowlarks, we've come a long way (just look at how many people answered this quiz correctly!)
One of the standard visual field marks used for separating Western and Eastern Meadowlarks is the extent to which the yellow on the throat extends onto the malar. But even here, we need to be careful with definitions. I prefer David Sibley's definition of malar, which is based on feather tracts. In this case, if we look at the base of the bill, we see a dark line extending downward that separates two feather tracts: the throat (left of the line) and the malar (right of the line to about where the streaked area on the auricular appears). Other definitions are based on patterns that may or may not exist on an individual bird, which make it a challenge to describe a facial pattern when some of the features are not present. So, using Sibley's definition of malar, we see that there is a bit of yellow that extends into the otherwise white malar. Usually when we think of yellow malar, we think Western Meadowlark. In this case, however, the yellow is very limited. Given the brightness of the throat and lores, it is much more limited than we would expect from on a bright Western Meadowlark. The head pattern overall is also very bold, with and inky black eyeline and lateral crown stripes that contrast boldly with what we can see of the median crown stripe and the rest of the face—very suggestive of Eastern Meadowlark.
The extensively streaked flanks are also typical of breeding season Eastern Meadowlarks. Furthermore, the extensive dark coloration to the tertials and rich black and brown pattern to the scapulars are characteristic of Eastern Meadowlark. Western Meadolark (and Lilian's Eastern Meadowlark of the Southwest) would have paler upperparts and a duller face pattern. Breeding season birds with a rich throat like this would have more extensive yellow onto the malar, and the flanks would appear more spotted.
I photographed this Eastern Meadowlark in June 2005 in Champaign County, Illinois.
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The following people (listed by submission date beginning with the earliest) submitted correct answers for the August Bird Photo Quiz – Eastern Meadowlark:
- Mr Bertram E.B. Bree, Jersey island, Channel Isles near France
- Bill Schmoker, Longmont, Colorado
- Andy Bankert, Melbourne Beach, FL
- Tony Clements, Vienna, VA
- Danny Karp, Orinda, Ca
- Enrique Zamora, Ensenada, Baja California
- Brandon Percival, Pueblo West, Colorado
- Tim White, Hilton Head Island, SC
- Rich Swartzentruber, Salem, Oregon
- Dave Worthington, Toronto, Ontario,
- Amanda Auger, Portland, OR
- Karen Rubinstein, New York, NY
- Bonnie Reimer, Madison, Wisconsin
- Sam Pratt, Inman, SC
- Eva Pratt, Inman, SC
- Mark Stevenson, Tucson, AZ
- Barbara Duncan, Jefferson City, MO
- George Cresswell, Colorado Springs, CO
- Ryan Dudragne, Swift Current, Saskatchewan
- Mary Ann Dudragne, Swift Current, Saskatchewan
- Jeremy Faucher, Enfield CT
- Floyd Schrock, McMinnville, Oregon
- Brian E. Small, Los Angeles, CA
- Chris Benson, Rochester, MN
- TJ Hathcock, Cleveland, OK
- Kevin Hill, Seattle, WA
- Dan Walker, Canyon, Texas
- John Bissell, Grimes, Iowa
- Kevin Kerr, Guelph, Ont
- Fred Sladen, New London, NH
- Ethan Kistler, Newton Falls, Ohio
- Philip Kline, Tucson, AZ
- douglas Robberson, Tigard, OR
- Larry Kline, Woodbridge, VA
- Dave Magpiong, Bellmawr, NJ
- Michael S, Levy, Centereach, NY
- Thomas Ford-Hutchinson, Doylestown, PA
- Sharon Reilly, Honolulu, HI
- Tim McFadden, Philadelphia, Pa
- Aaron Hulsey, Smiths Grove, Ky
- Kevin Welsh, Novi, Michigan
- Robert Furrow, Cambridge, MA
- Caity Reiland-Smith, Sioux Falls, SD
- Matt Anthony, Bel Air, MD
- Rob Young, Alexandria, VA
- Matt Pike, Lacey WA
- Orrin Harvey, Tucson, AZ
- John Anderson, Reno, Nevada
- Christopher Colby, York, PA
- Al Mercer, Marietta, GA
- Patrick Dechon, Ellenville, NY
- Karen Carlsen, Lakewood, CO
- Derek Hill, Richardson, TX
- Ben Coulter, Erie, PA
- José Luis Copete, Barcelona, Spain
- Jack Stenger, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Tim Avery, Salt Lake City, Utah
- Tom Archdeacon, Tucson, AZ
- Richard Garrigues, San Antonio de Belen, Heredia, Costa Rica
- Jason Berry, Washington, DC
- Andrea Berry, Washington, DC
- Nell Haberman, Portland, Oregon
- Carrie Braden, Portage la Prairie, MB
- Aaron Boone, Columbus, Ohio
- Liis Veelma, Winnipeg, MB
- Lori Fujimoto, Colorado Springs, CO
- Kyle Carlsen, Vincent, OH
- Chris, Manheim, PA
- Cynthia Plank, Portland, Or.
- Luke Buckardt, Deerfield, IL
- David Hollie, Ringgold, Georgia
- Brandon Best, Lubbock, TX
- Jon Atwood, Keene, NH
- Nels F. Thompson, Owatonna, MN
- Betsy Beneke, Perry, Utah
- chris litherland, Kingwood TX
- Ross Gallardy, Canonsburg, PA
- Travis Rosenberry, Boise, ID
- John Andrade, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
- Tim Snieder, Ontario
- James A. Wheat, Jacksonville, FL
- Don Burt, Anaheim, CA
- John Engleberg, Billings, MT
- Marge Bergen, Erin, WI
- Craig Bateman, Novi, MI
- Alex Vinokur, Casselberry, FL
- tim hochstetler, millersburg oh
- Greg Zupansic, Eugene, Oregon
- Matthew Schneider, Silverton, OR
- Linda Swanson, San Francisco, CA
- Michael Woodruff, Spokane, WA
- Arun Bose, Richmond, VA
- Bobby Walsh, Valencia, CA
- Maggie MacPherson, Haileybury, Ontario
- Blake Mathys, Rutgers U, NJ
- Peter Dedicoat, Stafford, UK
- Sandra Lautrup, Effingham, Illinois
- Bryan Patrick, Woodland Park, CO
- Jim Wood, Saskatoon Saskatchewan
- Justin Rasmussen, Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Jess Bridges, Sanford, NC
- Tate Snyder, Menlo Park, CA
- Blake Matheson, Carmel, CA
- Kai Reed, North Egremont, MA
- Jennie MacFarland, Tucson, AZ
- Claire Curry, Greenwood, Texas
- Robert Doster, Albuquerque, NM
- Zack Barrow, McDonald, TN
- Kristin Combs, Jackson, WY
- Marcia Huff, Holland, MI
- Harry Hooper, Tallahassee, Florida
- Ann Marie Dinkel, Lewes, DE
- Bill Maynard, Monument, CO
- Alan J. Knue, Seattle, WA
- Ed Harper, Sacramento, CA
- Oscar Johnson, Ventura, California
- Eddie Mundall, Klamath Falls, OR
- Nick Anich, Ashland, WI
- Claude Girard, St-Michel. P.Q.
- Graham Etherington, Norwich, UK
- Karen Augenstein, Canal Winchester, OH
- Jason Beason, Paonia, Colorado
- James P. Smith, Amherst, MA
- James McKay, Mesa, AZ
- Jim Kopitzke, Mesa AZ
- Stephen Seiffert, Lansdowne, Ontario Canada
- Robert Lengacher, Tallahassee, FL
- Bob Power, Oakland, CA
- Cyrus Gust, osage, mn
- Blue Rubinstein, New York, NY
- Philip Brandt George, Arlington, VA
- Joan Weber, Mason,IL
- Quinton Nice, Willamina, OR
- MIchael Hilchey, Albuquerque, New Mexico
- ali rodgers, corrales, nm
- Wayne R. McBride, Ukiah, CA
- Dorleen McBride, Ukiah, CA
- chris west, Richland Center WI
- Nick Lund, Portland, ME
- Mike Burchett, Churchville, MD
- Ulf Buchholz, Henderson, NV
- Jack Rothman, City Island, New York
- Nathaniel Wander, San Francisco, CA
HOW DID YOU COMPARE?
The list below shows that the highest number of answers submitted was for Eastern Meadowlark (143), followed by Western Meadowlark (36). Please note that answers must consist simply of the Common or English name exactly as it appears in the ABA Checklist.
| Eastern Meadowlark |  | 143 |
| Western Meadowlark | | 36 |
| Palm Warbler | | 1 |
| Yellow-breasted Bunting | | 1 |
| Yellow-throated Warbler | | 1 |
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The photo and answer for this quiz were supplied by Chris Wood.
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