Sturnella bellicosa
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
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.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peruvian Meadowlark sighting in Lima on a given day, based on 647 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 69th most-seen of the 171 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–August and October–March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Peruvian Meadowlark in Lima on a given day, against under 5% in April and September, the lowest months.
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.
Yes
Of the 2 cities where we can rate Peruvian Meadowlark sightings, Lima has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Guayaquil (Ecuador, under 5%).
Same family: Icteridae
The closest relatives of the Peruvian Meadowlark that you can see in Lima (family Icteridae, New World Blackbirds and Orioles) are Scrub Blackbird (about 80%), Shiny Cowbird (about 30%) and Yellow-hooded Blackbird (about 10%), 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 Lima (647 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.
