 Photo: Mark Eden |
This morning, over on , we asked you to show off your bird ID skills. Now, show us what you know about the Eastern meadowlark. Scroll past the picture below for the answers.
1. True or False: These birds are in the lark family.
2. What鈥檚 the global population of Eastern meadowlarks?
a. 6.9 billion
b. 6.9 million
c. 690,000
d. 69,000
3. What kind of food does the Eastern meadowlark like to eat?
a. crickets, grasshoppers, and other insects during springtime
b. weeds and waste, during the winter
c. both A and B
d. bananas, apples and other fruit
4. True or False: Males of this species will have more than one partner at a time.
5. On both the male and the female Eastern meadowlark鈥攖hough less distinctly visible on the female鈥攁 mark in the shape of what letter extends from either side of the neck to the middle of the chest?
a. X
b. W
c. V
d. J
 Photo: Ken Schneider, Flickr Creative Commons |
Answers
1. True or False: These birds are in the lark family.
False, the species actually falls into the family, whose other members include orioles and blackbirds, grackles and cowbirds. Family Alaudidae includes birds like the horned lark, .
2. What鈥檚 the global population of Eastern meadowlarks?
B, 6.9 million. Like many other species, this one has declined significantly of late. In fact, according to , the population has dropped more than 70 percent in four decades.
3. What kind of food does the Eastern meadowlark like to eat?
C, both A and B. The birds tend to focus their efforts on bugs that stay on the surface, but will dig deeper if they want more food. In rare instances鈥攚hen they are desperate鈥攖hese robin-sized .
4. True or False: Males of this species will have more than one partner at a time.
True. According to , they鈥檒l have up to two鈥攂ut not more.
5. On both the male and the female Eastern meadowlark鈥攖hough less distinctly visible on the female鈥攁 mark in the shape of what letter extends from either side of the neck to the middle of the chest?
C, V. As puts it, the female is 鈥渟lightly duller, less intense throughout, [with the] black crescent somewhat more restricted and obscured by white edgings to feathers.鈥 Juveniles have spots or flecks instead of the V.
For more information about these birds, check 爆料公社鈥檚 and Cornell鈥檚 .