Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2019

Cloudy skies.

Binos- Zeiss Victory SF 10x42

In VT I saw a Western Meadowlark in Charlotte on 7/9/2015. I have also seen some of them out west. This is the only time that I've ever looked closely at the tail feathers of a Western Meadowlark and that is what I am using to ID this bird.

Bird was seen in a tree and a shrub along a swale on both sides of the road.

I saw it fly from one side of the road to the other. It was a bit uncomfortable with me outside of my vehicle while taking pictures and it did not stay around for too long. Once it flew off I did not see it again.

None heard.

**Please see ebird report listed above to see photos**. I cannot find my original photos but I did insert 4 photos in my ebird report. Also, I am including my narrative that I included in that same report, which describes why I am IDing this bird as a Western Meadowlark: Though I did not hear it vocalize, I've settled on this species being a Western Meadowlark based on the information provided in the following 4 (not so great) photos. It appears that there are at least 3 different ways to tell western from eastern, when there is no vocalization heard. One is that western appears to be paler than eastern but this can be hard to distinguish in photos. The first two photos below show this bird up in a tree on the north side of the road, with an overcast sky in the background. It appears "paler" than it does in the last two photos where the bird is down in a swale on the south side of the road, with brownish colored branches in the background, causing the bird to appear a bit "darker" looking. The second way is to look at the malar to see whether it shows yellow (indicating western) or white (indicating eastern). This area is directly behind the lower mandible and above the throat. This field mark too can be difficult to see in photos and/or in the field because it can be quite variable for various reasons, e.g. lighting, age and gender of bird, time of year. In the first 2 photos there does appear to be some yellow and white coloration in this bird. The third way is to look at the tail feathers, which according to Kevin J. McGowan, Ph.D, of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is considered diagnostic. Eastern tail feathers are quite dark in the center (along the length) with the dark colored bars being quite wide and mostly connected to each other. Western tail feathers show a lighter colored center (along the length) because the dark colored bars are mostly unconnected or separated by the light colored bars. In the last two photos below the light colored bars clearly separate the dark colored bars across the entire width of the tail feathers, as well as the upper tail coverts. I am ID-ing this bird as a western, mostly based on my photos of the tail feathers. If you would like to see Kevin McGowan's photos of meadowlark specimens, go to www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/mlarkdiff.htm to view them.
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/134431131

Same size and shape as an Eastern Meadowlark.

Two dark lateral crown stripes and a white central crown stripe. White supercilious with yellowish area next to the eye. Dark eye-line behind the eye. Cheeks were light colored and the throat was light colored and yellowish. The nape was a similar color to the back and upper body- brownish.

Pale colored legs and the bill is also pale colored and comes to a sharp point at the tip.

Brownish colored feathers with white fringes and dark bars separated by light bars similar to the tail feathers.

Very similar to the upper back feather description but appear smaller.

Dark on the upper side and dark and light on the underside.

Breast was yellow with a faded looking black v-shaped breast band. Belly was light colored/yellowish. Flanks were white with dark spotted streaks, not continuous dark streaks.

The two outer tail feathers were mostly white with just a bit of a dark area on the outer tips. The next two feathers toward the center were 50% dark & 50% white. All of the remaining tail feathers did not show any white and the central tail feathers are described above.

Eastern Meadowlark was eliminated due to the tail markings as described above.

This report was based on photos taken during the observation. I am basing my ID on the tail feathers pattern pretty much exclusively.
I need to select one of the 3 options below to submit this report. I selected immediately after even though I wrote my report today. I would have selected- from photos taken during the observation, but that was not an option.