2022 split
Eastern Meadowlark split: the Southwest's bird is Chihuahuan Meadowlark
In 2022 Eastern Meadowlark became two species. The meadowlarks of the desert Southwest are now Chihuahuan Meadowlark; Eastern Meadowlark keeps its name in the East.
Updated
What changed
Grasslands and fields of the eastern US and southeastern Canada, and from Mexico south to northern South America. Also in Cuba.
Desert grasslands of Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas, and south into northern and western Mexico.
Who decided, and when
- American Ornithological Society (AOS): the 63rd Supplement to its Check-list of North American birds
- eBird and the Clements Checklist: its 2022 taxonomy update
- AviList, the shared world checklist: agrees, with the same names
Which one did you see?
Go by where you saw it. In the East, it's Eastern Meadowlark. In the grasslands of Arizona and New Mexico, it's Chihuahuan, unless it's a Western Meadowlark, which lives there too.
Chihuahuan Meadowlark has more white in its tail and is paler overall, and its song is a little lower.
The genetic studies behind the split found a surprise: Eastern Meadowlark is a closer relative of Western Meadowlark than of Chihuahuan.
What it does to your list
If you have seen meadowlarks both in the East and in the grasslands of the Southwest, your total goes up by one.
If an old sighting just says “Eastern Meadowlark” and comes from a place where both live, such as parts of Texas, it may not say which one you saw. When eBird can't tell which of the new species an old record was, it keeps the sighting as a “one or the other” record. Those stay in your records but don't count as a species.
Check your own list. Drop your eBird download or type your birds: the free checker shows which of them this and other recent changes touched.
Check my list