Voice of the Wild

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. Our birdsong will start in five seconds, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

This yellow-fronted bird with a black V on its chest, often sings from fence posts and power lines. It’s fairly common anywhere grasses have been spared regular mowing. It nests on the ground where it forages for insects using a long pointed beak. When startled from its prairie or pasture home it flies away with rapid wingbeats, then fans out its white-edged tail to catch the wind as it glides to a stop. Its call is harsh and electric, but its song is sweet and smooth; the favorite of many farmers across the state.

This is the Eastern meadowlark, Sturnella magna from the blackbird family, Icteridae. Here’s the eastern meadowlark’s whistling song again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab of Ornithology for our bird sounds. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new bird call with Illinois Extension.