There are three different songs here sung by a Western Meadowlark. The first repeats three times, the second song repeats 4 times, and the third song is repeated three times. This was recorded on Marble Hot Springs Road at the 2nd 90 degree turn as the Meadowlark sang from the telephone wire above. In the background you will hear cows moo and a few other birds call as well, but the Western Meadowlark is clearly the focal subject of the recording. This was recorded with a Fostex FR-2 and Sennheiser shotgun microphone, ME66.
The photo attached is a spectrogram of Western Meadowlark made in Raven Pro.
(taxonomy:binomial="Sturnella neglecta")
Western Meadlowlarks spend the Winter around here, as do Eastern Meadowlarks. The only reliable way to tell them apart is by their song. In fact, it was because their songs are so different that they were considered a different species! The Eastern Meadlowlark's song is composed of high pitched whistles, and sounds nothing like this gurgly guy, who was recorded in May 1999 near the Salinas River of Central California.
A bird mutters to himself in a "whisper song" that bears little relation to the other sounds this species makes - sung from atop a power pole near Cornville, Arizona, 5/99.
