Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna By:  Richard Scientific Classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passerifomes Family: Icteridae Genus: Sturnella Species: magna

Natural History

The Eastern meadowlark is a warm blooded bird, so that means that their body temperture stays the same. My bird isn’t cold blooded because its temperature is not constantly changing, like reptiles.  Meadowlarks have legs, wings, and a beak. My bird is also a vertebrate, not an invertebrate.  It has a back bone, and that makes it a vertebrate.  My bird is endemic to Maine which means that it's native to a particular place.

Feathers help hold in the heat and their feathers keep them from getting wet.. There are 3 parts to a feather. The vane is the flat part like threads zipped together. The rachis is a small shaft . The quill is at the bottom of the rachis attached to the skin of a bird. Their skin is like scales on a reptile.

Habitat

The Eastern meadowlark feeds and nests in native grasslands, pastures and savannas hay and fields, roadsides, golf courses, and shrubby overgrown fields.

Present Status

The Eastern meadowlark is a species of concern in the State of Maine.

Physical Decription

The Eastern meadowlark’s wingspan is 14”. Its length is 9.5 inches and its weight is 3.2 ounces. The Eastern meadowlark is about the size of a robin. It’s stocky, brown streaked, with a white edged tail, and its throat and breast are bright yellow. Its breast also has a black V on it.

Diet and Feeding Habits

The Eastern meadowlark walks on the ground like a quail in grassy or weed-grown fields and roadsides. About 74% of its food is animals. It’s an omnivore. It eats beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, cutworms, caterpillars, scale insects, weevils, ants, wasps, spiders, and sometimes dead cats or traffic-killed birds. It also eats grain and weed seeds. My bird is prey to cats and anything else that would want to eat it. The Eastern meadowlark is a predator to spiders and other insects.

Causes of Endangerment

My animal is a species of concern. Meadowlarks are very sensitive to human disturbance, including irrigation and mowing, and will readily desert a nest.  Eggs and young may also be lost to trampling by foxes, coyotes, dogs, cats, snakes, skunks, raccoons, or other small mammals. Meadowlarks typically do not renest if a nest or young are lost.  Brown-headed cowbirds are common brood parasites.

Personal Essay

Diversity strengthens an ecosystem by the producers. The producers produce the food for the consumers. And the consumers eat the food. When the consumers die they turn into soil and make producers. They call it a food chain.