Long-tailed Meadowlark (Leistes loyca) [XC590609]
by Cristian Pinto from Cerro Manquehue, Chile (call, collective calls)
Long-tailed Meadowlark (Leistes loyca) [XC449978]
by Bobby Wilcox from Torres del Paine, XII Regi\u00f3n, Chile (call)
Subspecies
Sometimes placed in a separate genus, Pezites, along with Pampas Meadowlark (Leistes defilippii) and Peruvian Meadowlark (Leistes bellicosus). Formerly treated as conspecific with latter or both. Birds intermediate between nominate subspecies and catamarcana said to occur in western Argentina, and range listed for latter below is tentative and a more detailed study is required. Geographical variation partly clinal. Size appears to increase from north towards south and in Andean highlands. If present species and Red-breasted Blackbird (Leistes militaris) [= Emberiza militaris Linnaeus, 1758] are treated in separate genera, present species reverts to its older specific epithet, militaris [= Sturnus militaris Linnaeus, 1771], which has priority over loyca. As a result, present species has in some works been known as Sturnella militaris.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
catamarcana (Zotta, 1937) - Local in highlands of north-western Argentina (Jujuy and Salta south to La Rioja).
loyca (Molina, 1782) - Chile (southern Atacama south to Cape Horn) and Argentina (San Juan, San Luis, Córdoba and Buenos Aires south to Tierra del Fuego).
obscura Nores and Yzurieta, 1979 - Sierras de Córdoba and San Luis, in central Argentina.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet