Postfledging Movements and Survival of Juvenile Eastern Meadowlarks (Sturnella magna) in Illinois

AbstractSome birds with song repertoires sequentially associate (or cluster) songs of different types. That is, certain song types may occur together repeatedly, even on different days. We determined whether clustering of meadowlark songs correlated with repertoire size. We also tested whether clustered songs reflect either their structural similarities, or dissimilarities. Our data were obtained from recordings of free-living individuals of two meadowlark species, eastern, Sturnella magna , and western, S. neglecta . Eastern meadowlarks have approximately 10 times more song types per bird than do westerns. Therefore, if clustering is related to repertoire size, we predicted that there should be (1) proportionately more song clusters in eastern meadowlarks than in westerns, and (2) a similar correlation across individual birds within a species, especially so in easterns, which have a broader range of repertoire sizes. All 14 easterns examined showed clusters whereas only 5 of 11 westerns did so, and the easterns had proportionately more per bird. Many of the same clusters occurred in different recordings of individual easterns. In easterns, the extent of clustering as measured by a PCA analysis correlated strongly with estimated repertoire size. Clustered songs were neither more similar in structure, nor less so, than randomly-paired songs.

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Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) Eating a Traffic-Killed Bird

The Auk ◽

10.2307/4081496 ◽

1956 ◽

Vol 73 (2) ◽

pp. 289-290 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

John K. Terres

Keyword(s):

Sturnella Magna

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Breeding-Season Decisions, Renesting, and Annual Fecundity of Female Eastern Meadowlarks (Sturnella Magna) in Southeastern Illinois

The Auk ◽

10.1093/auk/121.3.796 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 121 (3) ◽

pp. 796-805 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eric L. Kershner ◽

Jeffery W. Walk ◽

Richard E. Warner

Keyword(s):

Site Selection ◽

Population Biology ◽

Nest Site ◽

Adult Survival ◽

Demographic Parameter ◽

Site Characteristics ◽

Sturnella Magna ◽

Double Brooding ◽

Selection For ◽

Breeding Seasons

Abstract Annual fecundity is a demographic parameter that is elemental to population biology, but accurate measures of fecundity are rarely obtained. We used radiotelemetry to follow female Eastern Meadowlarks (Sturnella magna) throughout the 1999-2000 breeding seasons in southeastern Illinois to estimate their annual fecundity and assess if the outcome of initial nesting attempts affected site selection for subsequent nests. Thirty-four females built 52 nests (1.53 ± 0.12 nests female−1), but only 21 females (62%) fledged young. Only 44% of females renested at the study site, and more females (53%) emigrated after successfully fledging young from an initial nest than after failing in their first attempt (21%). Nest-site characteristics were similar between successful and failed nests for both initial and subsequent attempts. Females that failed during first attempts did not change nest characteristics for renests. Given that few females were double-brooded and that unsuccessful females did not persistently renest, annual fecundity for females nesting at the study site was between 1.27 ± 0.38 and 1.36 ± 0.37 female young year−1. On the basis of our fecundity measure, we estimated that annual adult survival of 59–61% was necessary for maintenance of a stable population (λ = 1.0). Failure of most females to attempt to raise two broods suggests that double brooding carries substantial costs for meadowlarks.

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Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna)

10.2173/bna.easmea.02 ◽

2012 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Levi A. Jaster ◽

William E. Jensen ◽

Wesley E. Lanyon

Keyword(s):

Sturnella Magna

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Sturnella magna: BirdLife International

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ◽

10.2305/iucn.uk.2020-3.rlts.t22735434a179984605.en ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Sturnella Magna

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Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna)

10.2173/tbna.160.p ◽

1995 ◽

Author(s):

Wesley E. Lanyon

Keyword(s):

Sturnella Magna

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Variation of repertoire use in the eastern meadowlark, Sturnella magna

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z83-142 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 61 (5) ◽

pp. 1086-1093 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Lorraine G. d'Agincourt ◽

J. Bruce Falls

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Seasonal Trend ◽

Territorial Defense ◽

Mate Attraction ◽

Singing Behavior ◽

Sturnella Magna ◽

Males And Females ◽

Song Types

The singing behavior of nine eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna) males was examined over the 1980 breeding season for changes in versatility (use of different song types and switching between song types). The greatest degree of versatility occurred during territorial defense; the use of one-song bouts rose from 33.1% during nonchase periods to 64.9% during intraspecific encounters. Versatility also showed a seasonal trend, peaking during courtship and decreasing through the incubation, nestling, and fledgling stages. No relationship was evident between versatility characteristic of a male and the number of females obtained. Thus, while versatility may have increased during encounters with both sexes, it apparently did not influence mate attraction. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that repertoires reduce habituation in listeners. The data also support a derivative explanation that song variety serves as a graded signal indicating the tendency of a singer to interact with other males and females.

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Genomic and acoustic differences separate Lilian’s Meadowlark (Sturnella magna lilianae) from Eastern (S. magna) and Western (S. neglecta) meadowlarks

The Auk ◽

10.1093/ornithology/ukab004 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Johanna K Beam ◽

Erik R Funk ◽

Scott A Taylor

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Function Analysis ◽

The United States ◽

Species Status ◽

Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽

Linear Discriminant ◽

Distinct Evolutionary Lineage ◽

Sturnella Magna ◽

Insight Into ◽

Linear Discriminant Function Analysis

Abstract Examining differences among recently diverged populations can provide insight into the traits and evolutionary mechanisms that drive or maintain divergence. The genus Sturnella includes 2 recently diverged species, Sturnella magna (Eastern Meadowlark) and S. neglecta (Western Meadowlark), the former of which has a complex of subspecies distributed across the Americas. Of the S. magna subspecies that occur in the United States, S. m. lilianae is the only one with a disjunct range, occurring in the southwestern United States and central Mexico. It also has markedly different song patterns than all other S. magna subspecies. In order to assess population differentiation, we performed whole-genome sequencing of 35 birds and analyzed song characteristics from 85 birds. Songs from each species and S. m. lilianae were diagnosable using linear discriminant function analysis and support divergence in song between all taxa. Phylogenetic analysis and admixture proportions support 3 distinct clades within North American meadowlarks, and tests of introgression failed to detect a significant signal. Overall, our results indicate that S. m. lilianae exhibits high levels of genetic and vocal differentiation from both S. magna and S. neglecta, with no evidence of introgression between any group, and forms a distinct evolutionary lineage. We thus recommend the elevation of S. m. lilianae to species status.

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