Sturnella bellicosa
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
The Peruvian meadowlark (Leistes bellicosus) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, the oropendolas, New World orioles, and New World blackbirds. It is found in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The Peruvian meadowlark has a complicated taxonomic history. It was formally described in 1847 with the binomial Sturnella bellicosa. For a time it and two other species were separated in genus Pezites. This genus was later again merged into Sturnella. In 2016 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assigned it to its current genus Leistes that had been erected in 1825. By 2019 the IOC, the Clements taxonomy, and the South American Classification Committee had also made the reassignment.
The Peruvian meadowlark is about 21 cm (8.3 in) long and weighs 61 to 78 g (2.2 to 2.8 oz); males are larger than females. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a mostly black head with a white forehead, a long supercilium that is red from the bill to the eye and white beyond it, a white... Wikipedia →
Recording0:20
Chile · 2025
© Richard Hasegawa · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording0:25
Ecuador · 2021
© Marcelo F. Amores-Palma · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording4:13
Ecuador · 2022
© Marcelo Amores · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Machalilla National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Peruvian Meadowlark sighting in Guayaquil on a given day, based on 30 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 116th most-seen of the 167 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peruvian Meadowlark in Guayaquil on a given day, against under 5% in April–June and August–January, the lowest months. Those are among Guayaquil's wettest months, with about 140 mm of rain a month against almost none in September.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Peruvian Meadowlark sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 2
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Peruvian Meadowlark sightings, Guayaquil ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Lima (Peru, about 10%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Peruvian Meadowlark that you can see in Guayaquil (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Scrub Blackbird (about 70%), Great-tailed Grackle (about 60%) and Yellow-rumped Cacique (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Peruvian Meadowlark is recorded against all the birds logged in Guayaquil (30 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
