Western Meadowlark

A Bird Called Neglected:

How the Western Meadowlark Became Montana's Own

Lewis at the Great Falls

On June 22, 1805, the Corps of Discovery was working its way around the Great Falls of the Missouri River. Meriwether Lewis, who had an iron boat to assemble, paused long enough to kill a bird and describe it. His journal entry is the earliest known description of the species Montana would later adopt as its state bird (Groves 22–23; Mussulman). Lewis wrote of "a kind of larke" that resembled the oldfield lark of his native Virginia, with a yellow breast and a black spot at the throat. He noted differences in the tail, the bill, and the "note," which he said "differs considerably." In size, action, and color, however, he could find no perceptible difference (Mussulman).

Lewis did not announce a new species. In March 1806, summarizing the expedition's birds at Fort Clatsop, he described the plains lark as the same bird he had noted on the Missouri and "not very unlike" the oldfield lark of Virginia (Mussulman). The two meadowlarks are now regarded as visually almost indistinguishable, while their songs differ markedly (Mussulman; Marcure).

Audubon's "Neglected" Bird

The bird waited some decades for a scientific name. John James Audubon supplied one in the 1840s: Sturnella neglecta, the second word being Latin for overlooked. He explained that although the explorers Lewis and Clark had known of the species, "no one has since taken the least notice of it" (Mussulman). Montana's statute still credits the name to Audubon (Montana Legislature).

The common name is nearly as misleading as the scientific one. Sturnella means "starling-like," and the bird is neither a starling nor, despite the English name, a true lark. Meadowlarks belong to the family that includes blackbirds, orioles, grackles, and cowbirds (Mussulman). Audubon closed his description by observing that the flesh was "indifferent eating" (Mussulman).

The Bird on the Fence Post

The western meadowlark is a bird of open country. It occupies grasslands, prairies, meadows, and some farm fields, and it avoids wooded edges and heavy shrub (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). In spring the males claim territories, sometimes spending up to a month at the task before the females arrive (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Song serves largely as a no-trespassing signal (Marcure), delivered from perches such as fence posts, large rocks, and scattered shrubs (North Dakota Game and Fish Department). Jeannie Marcure of the Flathead Audubon Society describes the song as seven to ten flutelike notes, more complex than the clear whistles of the eastern species.

The female chooses the nest site, typically a shallow depression on the ground such as a cow's hoofprint. She shapes it with her bill, lines it with grass, and often weaves a domed roof from the surrounding vegetation. A clutch runs to five or six eggs, with one or two broods a season, and a bird disturbed while incubating may abandon the nest (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). The diet follows the calendar. Beetles, ants, cutworms, grasshoppers, and crickets predominate in late spring and summer, while grain is taken in winter and early spring and weed seeds in the fall (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). Montana's meadowlarks migrate south each autumn, a fact that later figured in legislative argument (Groves 22–23; Montana Senate Committee).

A State Votes by Ballot

By 1930 Montanans had some experience settling questions of public symbolism by popular poll. In 1894 a statewide contest gave the bitterroot 3,621 votes, well ahead of the evening primrose and the wild rose, and the legislature ratified the result the following year. In 1908 schoolchildren chose the ponderosa pine as the state tree, although the legislature did not make the designation official until 1949 (Groves 20–22).

The meadowlark followed the same route. In 1930 the state's schoolchildren were asked which bird best represented Montana, and the response favored the meadowlark overwhelmingly. The legislature confirmed the choice in 1931 (Groves 22–23; Marcure). The statute, enacted as Section 1, Chapter 149, Laws of 1931, and now codified as Montana Code Annotated 1-1-504, names the bird "as preferred by a referendum vote of Montana school children" (Montana Legislature). The sources reviewed for this article give no vote totals and do not identify who organized the poll.

Montana was not alone. Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming also claim the species (Marcure). A Washington State Library account says Oregon's schoolchildren chose the meadowlark in a 1927 poll, and that Oregon, Nebraska, and Wyoming had adopted it before Montana, Kansas, and North Dakota followed (Schaff).

The Magpie Bill of 1989

The meadowlark's standing was tested in the 51st Legislature. Senate Bill 383, introduced on February 10, 1989, by Senator Bill Yellowtail and Representative Tom Hannah, proposed to amend the state-bird statute to name the black-billed magpie in the meadowlark's place. Its preamble argued that the existing state bird was "shared by numerous other states" and had no unique qualities especially significant to Montana, while the magpie was present in all fifty-six counties in every month of the year (Montana Senate).

The Senate Committee on Fish and Game heard the bill on February 16. Yellowtail's case rested on the seasons: the meadowlark leaves for the winter, while the magpie stays and represents what he called "independence and self-reliance." Representative Hannah told the committee he had driven back from Helena at forty below zero without seeing a single meadowlark, though he had seen magpies. Opponents included the Montana Farm Bureau, whose representative objected to a scavenger as state bird, and the Montana Association of Churches. Several witnesses spoke in a humorous vein, and one, George Ochenski, acknowledged that many people considered the bill a joke before arguing that it was not. Two students from Ray Bjork Grade School in Helena, each reporting on class research, testified on opposite sides. Both acknowledged that schoolchildren had chosen the meadowlark in 1930, and one noted that Lewis recorded the bird on June 22, 1805 (Montana Senate Committee).

The committee rejected a set of amendments and voted to recommend the bill "do pass." On February 20 the full Senate amended it on second reading. The amended text no longer replaced the meadowlark but would have designated the magpie the official state "scavenger." On February 21 the bill failed on third reading (Montana Senate). The 1931 designation remains in force (Montana Legislature).

A Grassland Bird in a Changing Landscape

The meadowlark that schoolchildren chose in 1930 remains numerous. Partners in Flight, as summarized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, estimates a global breeding population near 100 million and rates the species 10 out of 20 on its Continental Concern Score, indicating relatively low conservation concern. The trend lines, however, run downward. The North American Breeding Bird Survey shows breeding populations falling about 0.9 percent a year from 1966 to 2019, a cumulative decline of about 37 percent (Cornell Lab of Ornithology). North Dakota Game and Fish, using a different base year, reports a decline of 42 percent since 1970. It lists loss and degradation of grassland, invasive plants, woody encroachment, agrochemicals, and energy development among the threats (North Dakota Game and Fish Department).

The broader picture is consistent. A 2019 analysis in Science by Kenneth V. Rosenberg and colleagues, drawing on multiple monitoring networks, estimated a net loss of 2.9 billion breeding birds in the United States and Canada since 1970. Grassland birds showed the largest proportional loss, 53 percent across 31 species, and 74 percent of grassland species were declining. The authors linked the grassland losses to habitat loss and more toxic pesticide use, while noting that the causes for individual species require further study (Rosenberg et al.).

North Dakota's management data suggest that outcomes depend on land use. Meadowlark density was 61 percent lower in Conservation Reserve Program fields converted to cropland, and was projected to rise if expired fields were grazed (26 percent) or hayed (22 percent) (North Dakota Game and Fish Department). These figures are range-wide or from North Dakota. The sources reviewed did not yield a Montana-specific population trend.

A Note on Sources and Unresolved Questions

Facts were cross-checked against at least two sources wherever two were available. The 1930 vote and 1931 enactment rest on Groves, Marcure, and the Montana Code, and the 1989 student testimony independently confirms the 1930 date. Lewis's June 22, 1805, entry appears in both Groves and Mussulman. Three matters carry caveats. First, Audubon's quotations and the meadowlark's family relationships rest primarily on Mussulman, and the Montana Code confirms only the attribution of the name. Mussulman dates Audubon's remark to 1840, whereas other references commonly give 1844 for the published name, so this article states only the decade. Second, Groves dates the magpie proposal to 1998, but the bill text, hearing minutes, and bill history all show 1989, and this article follows the primary record. Third, the sources reviewed did not supply the 1930 vote totals, the organizer of the poll, or the calendar date of the 1931 enactment, which appears in secondary web sources but in no primary document located here. All web addresses below were opened on October 27, 2026.

Works Cited

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "Western Meadowlark Life History." All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_MEadowlark/food. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Groves, Sara. "Standing for Montana: Strange Stories of How the Bitterroot, Grizzly Bear, Mourning Cloak Butterfly, and Montana's Other State Symbols Came into Existence." Montana Outdoors, Mar.–Apr. 2011, pp. 16–23. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, https://fwp.mt.gov/binaries/content/assets/fwp/montana-outdoors/2011/statesymbols.pdf. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Marcure, Jeannie. "Western Meadowlark." Bird of the Month, Flathead Audubon Society, 10 July 2014, https://flatheadaudubon.org/bird-of-the-month/western-meadowlark/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Montana Legislature. "1-1-504. State Bird." Montana Code Annotated 2025, https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/MCA/title_0010/chapter_0010/part_0050/section_0040/0010-0010-0050-0040.html. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Montana Senate. Senate Bill 383. 51st Legislature, 1989 (bill history and amended text), https://courts.mt.gov/external/leg/bills/1989/senate/SB383.pdf. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Montana Senate Committee on Fish and Game. Minutes, Hearing on Senate Bill 383. 16 Feb. 1989, 51st Legislature, Regular Session, https://courts.mt.gov/external/leg/1989/senate/02-16-sfwp.pdf. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Mussulman, Joseph A. "Western Meadowlark." Discover Lewis & Clark, Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance, https://lewis-clark.org/sciences/birds/western-meadowlark/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department. "Western Meadowlark." 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan, https://gf.nd.gov/ecology/species/birds/western-meadowlark. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Rosenberg, Kenneth V., et al. "Decline of the North American Avifauna." Science, vol. 366, no. 6461, 2019, pp. 120–24, https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10133018. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Schaff, Mary Paynton. "The Tale of the Washington State Bird, Volume 1: Meadowlarks, Goldfinches, and Mugwumps." Washington Secretary of State Library Blog, https://blogs.sos.wa.gov/library/?p=16916. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.