Western meadowlark, the state bird of Nebraska

How to recognize it

The western meadowlark is a chunky, robin-sized bird with a short, stiff tail, a flat head and a long, slender bill. In breeding plumage its underparts are bright yellow, crossed by a black V on the chest. Its upperparts are an intricate mix of brown, black and buff, and its head has dark and pale stripes. In fall and winter the yellow turns paler and the V fainter. The white outer tail feathers show best when the bird takes off or lands.

The western meadowlark looks almost exactly like the eastern meadowlark, so the song is the best clue. The western’s is a rich, flute-like jumble of gurgling notes that usually runs down the scale. Its call note is a throaty chook or took, unlike the buzzy call of its eastern relative.

How it lives

Meadowlarks forage on the ground for insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and cutworms in spring and summer, and for grain and weed seeds in fall and winter. They have a trick called gaping: pushing the bill into the soil and prying it open to expose food. The female builds a grass-lined nest on the ground, often with a woven grass dome over it, and males commonly have two mates at once.

The species lives in open grasslands, prairies, meadows, pastures and some farm fields, from sea level up to about 10,000 feet, across the West and Midwest. It avoids wooded edges and heavy shrub cover.

Where to see one in Nebraska

Look in open prairie and pasture, where males sing from fence posts, shrubs and power lines in the breeding season. Nebraska Game and Parks’ birding guide recommends Spring Creek Prairie, an Audubon-owned tallgrass prairie preserve, where both eastern and western meadowlarks can be heard, a good place to learn the difference.

Common, but declining

The western meadowlark is still abundant: Partners in Flight estimates a breeding population of about 100 million and rates it of low concern. But the North American Breeding Bird Survey found declines of about 0.9 percent a year from 1966 to 2019, about 37 percent in all, probably due in part to the loss of grassland to farming and development.

The state bird since 1929

The Legislature named the western meadowlark Nebraska’s state bird in 1929. Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming have also chosen it, making it one of the most popular state birds.