ML615610005

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Singing and calling (first heard "pluck"ing). Recorded and photographed. Often flicked its tail while perched (both on the ground and sitting atop a corn stalk), exposing white outer tail feathers. In fact, I think that's what first drew my attention to the bird (on the ground). Visually, the very thin, discrete bands on the longest visible flight feathers (tertials and tail feathers) stand out from Eastern Meadowlark, which are fused together by a blobby dark shaft. Note also the bird's brown crown and eyestripe, yellow throat that distinctly bleeds well out into the malar, paler upperparts, and, perhaps, shorter, more spotted flank streaking all help to distinguish this bird from EAME. Roughly here to begin: 35.2637959, -90.0722242 I last saw it drop into the edge of an unharvested corn field (slightly to the east of those coordinates), where it was apparently quite content foraging. Which I find odd for a meadowlark, foraging amidst the tall cornstalks. Amazingly, this was the only meadowlark that I detected all morning! Despite getting reasonably clear audios of both the bird singing and calling, Merlin Sound ID was either unable to register this bird and/or unable to identify it (it may not have been detected [which seems unlikely], was detected and not identified, or was detected, identified correctly, and suppressed). Presumably, it was the latter, as Merlin was likely constrained by the regional eBird filter, which prevented WEME from being considered as a viable option. I also heard the bird giving flight calls (lower-pitched than EAME) and 1 or 2 sputtery rattle calls, which I wasn't able to evaluate closely, other than to note that it sounded different than EAME (WEME's rattle calls are more staccato, lower and slower).

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

1000

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/2000 sec

Dimensions

2881 pixels x 1826 pixels

Original file size

2.48 MB