Eastern Meadowlark - 22 Mar 2012

Recent reports from Oakwoods Metropark in Wayne Co., MI have included sightings of Eastern Meadowlarks, Eastern Bluebirds, Field Sparrows, and American Woodcock.  Tonight I was interested in the meadowlarks, so I grabbed the scope and Nikon V1 and headed to the park. 

Several Eastern Meadowlarks were heard from the road as I drove in toward the Nature Center, but no birds could be seen.  I did hear my first Field Sparrows of the year, so they were a welcome treat.

Just before the final turnoff to the Nature Center I heard a pair of meadowlarks singing their "spring-of-the-dirty-earth" song. I grabbed the scope once I spotted one bird singing from the top of a large tree.

True to form these birds were not cooperative.  They tend to fly to locations too far for general photography.  Luckily one bird landed atop one of a pair of bluebird boxes and sang long enough for me to sneak up and get some images from about 100' away. 

After a nice rendition, our little entertainer would then bow to the crowd...

It then flew to one of the large juniper bushes near the edge of the parking lot and sang long enough for me to move w/in 150' of it.

This is a video I took of the bird while it sang:

I returned to the car just in time to find an Eastern Bluebird male perched nearby.  With the sun going down I decided to head out. I saw a pair of Field Sparrows next to the road but couldn't get the scope out fast enough before they flew off.

Oakwoods Metropark, Wayne, Michigan, US
Mar 22, 2012 6:00 PM - 6:45 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
3 species

Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)  2
Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla)  2
Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna)  4

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S100131031

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)