Meadowlark numbers are dropping

For The Journal

Published Monday, June 23, 2008

While there are some gratifying wildlife success stories such as the comeback of eagles and wolves, there also are some very troubling wildlife trends.

One alarming story is the plight of the once-common meadowlark. Meadowlarks are classic birds of grasslands. Meadowlarks are so beloved that numerous states have claimed it as their state bird. Every American farm kid now over the age of 50 grew up with the call of the meadowlark being about as common as that of a robin today. Sadly, that is no longer true.

Meadowlark populations have been in a measurable and alarming decline for the last 40 years. It is not that they are threatened with extinction anytime soon; rather, they went from common to uncommon, from rural icon to rural alarm call, all in a few decades.

There are two species of meadowlark in North America. Eastern meadowlarks predominate from roughly Wisconsin east to the Atlantic. From Minnesota west is the range of the western meadowlark. Both species can be found in Minnesota, especially in the eastern half of the state, but western meadowlarks are more common in Minnesota. While they look almost exactly alike, their calls are distinctively different, and make it easy to separate the two species.

Western meadowlarks have a lovely, complex, bubbling call with a varying pitch (“down up, down up, downandupfast”), difficult to describe but easy to identify. Eastern meadowlarks have a simple clear whistle, usually four or five short tones of varying pitch. Both species have beautiful, bright yellow throats and undersides interrupted by a bold black V across the chest. The upper side of the birds, that which faces potential predators, is a mottled brown camouflage. With this clever plumage, meadowlarks can show off their bright colors to potential mates and adversaries while still hiding from predators looking for lunch.

Meadowlarks, both eastern and western, are utterly dependant on grasslands for their survival. They nest in the grass, they feed in the grass, and they sing from low perches in grass (fence posts, a small shrub, or tall grass clump).

Simply put, their population has suffered an inexorable decline as our grassland cover has been diminished. While every farm had a pasture and some hay land 50 years ago, many farms today are nothing but tilled grain crops. Wet areas which dried by mid-summer were once cut as meadow hay after the meadowlarks had finished nesting. Now those sites are usually drained and tilled with the rest of the field. Even today’s hay fields, few as they are, tend to be managed more intensively, with earlier and more frequent cutting of alfalfa, often precluding successful bird nesting.

While we may never again have as many meadowlarks as we once had, there are things we can do to help increase or at least stabilize the population. Increasing our acres of grassland cover will help bring back our meadowlarks. Meadowlarks don’t necessarily have to have idle grasslands to thrive. In fact, they often seem to prefer somewhat shorter grasslands and grassy areas which are occasionally disturbed. Pastures make wonderful meadowlark habitat. Areas with many acres devoted to cattle grazing often provide great bird habitat overall. Late cut hay fields, whether cut for forage or biomass energy crops, provide meadowlark habitat.