Sturnella magna
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna) is a medium-sized icterid bird, very similar in appearance to its sister species, the western meadowlark. It occurs from eastern North America to northern South America, where it is also most widespread in the east. The Chihuahuan meadowlark was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern meadowlark.
The eastern meadowlark was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the larks and pipits in the genus Alauda and adopted the binomial name Alauda magna. Linnaeus based his description on the "large lark" that had been described and illustrated in 1729–1732 by the English naturalist Mark Catesby. Catesby also used the Latin Alauda magna but as his book predates the introduction of the binomial system, he is not acknowledged as the authority. Catesby reported that "they inhabit Carolina, Virginia and most of the Northern continent of America." Confusingly, Linnaeus specified the habitat as "America, Africa". The type location was restricted to South Carolina by the American Ornithologist's Union in 1931. The eastern meadowlark is now placed... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 2 | Bogota | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 3 | Havana | 🇨🇺 Cuba | |
| 4 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Meadowlark sighting in Havana on a given day, based on 233 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 48th most-seen of the 183 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May, August and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Meadowlark in Havana on a given day, against about 10% in June–July, September–October and December–March, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Meadowlark sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 21
Of the 21 cities where we can rate Eastern Meadowlark sightings, Havana ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in San Pedro Sula (Honduras, about 20%) and Bogota (Colombia, about 20%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Eastern Meadowlark that you can see in Havana (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Cuban Blackbird (about 70%), Greater Antillean Grackle (about 50%) and Tawny-shouldered Blackbird (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Meadowlark is recorded against all the birds logged in Havana (233 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.
