Possible Eastern Meadowlark?/Weld CR 48

[The "Nunn Guy"]

Hi all

Along Weld CR 48 at Latham Reservoir.  I don't have any experience distinguishing between the two meadowlarks.  I will say this meadowlark behaved quite differently than the "1,000s" I have seen up here in Weld County.  Very cooperative--unlike any meadowlark I've come across and did not sound like any meadowlark I've seen.  In fact when I first heard its chip call I thought "some bird in cattails" until I started videoing and saw that it was this bird making that unfamiliar chip call.  In listening to chip call on video (below) it sounds like an Eastern Meadowlark on my iPod.

Thoughts?

Photos:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/photo/albums/eastern-meadowlark
Video:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/video/possible-eastern-meadowlark

Thanks Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com/
Mobile:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/m

[Nathan Pieplow]

Thanks for sharing this meadowlark video!  The vocalization the bird is giving is actually the so-called "flight call" (not always given in flight), which is pretty similar in both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks, although Eastern's averages a little higher.  The flight call in the video is actually on the low end, which would be good for Western Meadowlark.  Meadowlarks give their "flight calls" year-round, but I hear them most often in winter, when other kinds of vocalizations are less frequent.

Also, when the bird flies at the end of the video, a couple of frames give pretty decent views of the spread tail, which appears to show white on only the 3 outer tail feathers -- again, good for Western Meadowlark.

Nathan Pieplow

Boulder

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[The "Nunn Guy"]

Great-thanks Nathan ... mystery solved. 

Thanks Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com/
Mobile:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/m