Western Meadowlark

I came back from my trip to New Mexico to find that the western meadowlarks, Sturnella neglecta, have returned, at least to Northern Colorado.  The males were singing their beautiful spring songs with gusto in the morning sunshine.

This brilliantly yellow bird with his cheerful song can make anyone's day brighter.  The meadowlark singing outside of my window was always one of my favorite birds as a kid.  It was a sure sign that spring was here and summer vacation just around the corner!

Allaboutbirds.org writes that "The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. Only the Northern Cardinal is a more popular civic symbol, edging out the meadowlark by one state."  So the species name neglecta is obviously no longer accurate.  Audubon christened this bird by this name because they were for a long time not distinguished from eastern meadowlarks.

Amusingly, all of the photos on this page were taken in Colorado or South Dakota, who decided instead to choose the lark bunting and the ring-necked pheasant (an introduced species! what were they thinking?), respectively, as their state birds.  The meadowlark in the following picture has chosen South Dakota's Badlands as his home.

Birdingabout.com reveals that "The western meadowlark is named for its beautiful warbling song but in fact it is a member of the blackbird family, not the lark family."  These naughty males often have two mates at a time, which I guess is their payoff for all of that pretty singing.