Peruvian Meadowlark - BirdForum Opus

Photo of male by Stanley Jones
Pantanos de Villa Reserve, Peru, September, 2009

Leistes bellicosus

Sturnella bellicosa

Identification

Shorter-tailed than other red-breasted South American Meadowlarks.

Similar species

Long-tailed Meadowlark, Pampas Meadowlark

Distribution

South America: found west of the Andes in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and reported as currently spreading into Colombia. Subspecies catamarcanus from Argentina is usually included in Long-tailed Meadowlark

Female
Photo by mmdnje
Chongon, Guayas Province, Ecuador, December 2005

Taxonomy

Polytypic. Consists of two subspecies^[1]

• L. b. bellicosus:

• Pacific slope of Ecuador to northern Peru

• L. b. albipes:

• Arid littoral of south-western Peru (Ica) to extreme northern Chile

This taxon is included within Pampas Meadowlark by some authors.
This species has formerly been placed in the genus Sturnella.

Habitat

Coastal grasslands

Behaviour

Territorial during breeding season. Male performs a song display where he rises up into the air.

In non-breeding season may flock.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Neotropical birds online
4. Ebird

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Peruvian Meadowlark. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 11 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Peruvian_Meadowlark

External Links

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