Western meadowlark, the state bird of Montana

How to recognize it

The western meadowlark is a stocky songbird about 7.5 to 10 inches long, with a long, slender bill, a short tail and long legs. Its throat and belly are bright yellow, crossed by a black V or crescent on the chest. The back is streaked in brown, buff and black, which hides it well in grass, and white outer tail feathers flash when it flies. A yellow stripe runs from the eye to the bill, below a crown striped dark and light. Males and females look alike, though females are a little smaller and duller.

The song is the best clue. It is a rich, flute-like run of gurgling notes that usually falls in pitch, quite unlike the simpler whistle of the eastern meadowlark. The call is a low chuck.

How it lives

Meadowlarks walk on the ground. In late spring and summer they eat insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and cutworms, and in other seasons grain and weed seeds. Their nests are hidden on the ground in the grass. Males sing to hold their territories, and some have more than one mate.

Where to see one in Montana

The western meadowlark is common and widespread in Montana, mostly as a breeding bird, though a few stay through the winter. It favors native grasslands and pastures but also uses hayfields, alfalfa, weedy crop edges and roadsides. Watch and listen from almost any Montana grassland, pasture, hayfield or prairie road from spring through summer. Males arrive two to four weeks before females, and the nesting season runs from the second week of May into the first week of August.

Secure, but declining

The western meadowlark is ranked secure both worldwide and as a breeding bird in Montana. It is still common, but breeding bird surveys show long-term population declines.

Chosen by schoolchildren

Montana’s schoolchildren picked the meadowlark in a 1930 vote, and the 1931 Legislature followed their choice. The law itself cites the children’s referendum. Five other states, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming, have also chosen the western meadowlark, making it one of the most popular state birds.