Eastern Meadowlark
Eastern Meadowlark has collapsed: down 81% on the route-weighted index since 1968.
About the Eastern Meadowlark
A chunky grassland songbird with a bright yellow breast and bold black 'V', the Eastern Meadowlark sings from fence posts but has declined sharply as grasslands have been lost.
- Size
- 7.5–10 in long, about 3.2 oz (19–26 cm, 90 g)
- Habitat
- Open grasslands, prairie, pasture and hayfields.
- Diet
- Insects in summer and seeds and grain in winter, taken on the ground.
- Range
- Recorded on 2,433 Breeding Bird Survey routes across 37 states, most concentrated in the Appalachian Mountains.
- Family
- Icteridae · Grassland birds
- Conservation
- Declining
Notable Eastern Meadowlark Trends
Eastern Meadowlark has collapsed in surveyed states: down 81% on the route-weighted index since 1968.
Eastern Meadowlark Population Forecast
If the recent trend holds, Eastern Meadowlark is projected to fall about 100% by 2029 — from 4.7 in 2024 to a central estimate of 0.00 (95% range 0.00–4.1). A 5-year backtest shows a typical error of ±89.1%, with 20% of held-out values landing inside the 95% band.
| Year | Projected index | 95% low | 95% high |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.68 | 0.00 | 4.8 |
| 2026 | 0.32 | 0.00 | 4.4 |
| 2027 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.1 |
| 2028 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.1 |
| 2029 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.1 |
Where the Eastern Meadowlark Is Detected
BBS routes recording Eastern Meadowlark, sized by most recent count.
Eastern Meadowlark Population Trend by State
| Alabama | -80% | 1968 | 107 |
| Arkansas | -82% | 1969 | 56 |
| Connecticut | -98% | 1968 | 17 |
| Delaware | -94% | 1968 | 13 |
| Florida | -75% | 1968 | 110 |
| Georgia | -88% | 1968 | 100 |
| Illinois | -73% | 1968 | 105 |
| Indiana | -71% | 1968 | 68 |
| Iowa | -27% | 1969 | 38 |
| Kansas | -25% | 1969 | 63 |
| Kentucky | -78% | 1968 | 61 |
| Louisiana | -80% | 1969 | 97 |
| Maine | -99% | 1968 | 45 |
| Maryland | -86% | 1968 | 74 |
| Massachusetts | -98% | 1968 | 24 |
| Michigan | -86% | 1968 | 89 |
| Minnesota | -50% | 1969 | 60 |
| Mississippi | -90% | 1968 | 68 |
| Missouri | -56% | 1969 | 95 |
| Nebraska | -74% | 1969 | 42 |
| New Hampshire | -99% | 1968 | 25 |
| New Jersey | -97% | 1968 | 36 |
| New York | -90% | 1968 | 116 |
| North Carolina | -79% | 1968 | 98 |
| North Dakota | insufficient data | n/a | 8 |
| Ohio | -84% | 1968 | 86 |
| Oklahoma | -36% | 1969 | 66 |
| Pennsylvania | -88% | 1968 | 130 |
| Rhode Island | -64% | 1969 | 4 |
| South Carolina | -90% | 1968 | 47 |
| South Dakota | -92% | 1996 | 4 |
| Tennessee | -83% | 1968 | 52 |
| Texas | -80% | 1969 | 181 |
| Vermont | -96% | 1968 | 25 |
| Virginia | -68% | 1968 | 73 |
| West Virginia | -85% | 1968 | 59 |
| Wisconsin | -75% | 1968 | 91 |
Eastern Meadowlark Population Trend by Region
Bird Conservation Regions are the ecological unit for trends.
| Prairie Potholes | +82% | 1969 | 34 |
| Boreal Hardwood Transition | -87% | 1968 | 89 |
| Lower Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Plain | -88% | 1968 | 86 |
| Atlantic Northern Forest | -99% | 1968 | 107 |
| Badlands and Prairies | -93% | 1996 | 5 |
| Shortgrass Prairie | -59% | 1970 | 20 |
| Central Mixed Grass Prairie | +9% | 1969 | 111 |
| Edwards Plateau | -89% | 1969 | 16 |
| Oaks and Prairies | -77% | 1969 | 74 |
| Eastern Tallgrass Prairie | -63% | 1968 | 277 |
| Prairie Hardwood Transition | -73% | 1968 | 157 |
| Central Hardwoods | -77% | 1968 | 163 |
| West Gulf Coastal Plain / Ouachitas | -93% | 1969 | 97 |
| Mississippi Alluvial Valley | -86% | 1968 | 70 |
| Southeastern Coastal Plain | -85% | 1968 | 318 |
| Appalachian Mountains | -85% | 1968 | 365 |
| Piedmont | -82% | 1968 | 163 |
| New England / Mid-Atlantic Coast | -92% | 1968 | 138 |
| Peninsular Florida | -76% | 1968 | 71 |
| Tamaulipan Brushlands | -43% | 1970 | 24 |
| Gulf Coastal Prairie | -69% | 1969 | 48 |
Eastern Meadowlark Conservation Status
Declining
Long-term surveys document a steep, sustained decline for this species, a recognized conservation concern. Our route-weighted index shows it down about 81% since 1968. Grassland birds are North America's steepest-declining group, down roughly 50% since 1970 as prairie and pasture were lost.
Source: USGS North American Breeding Bird Survey, retrieved 2026-05-22. Trend is a route-weighted relative-abundance index, not an absolute population.