Long-tailed Meadowlark (Leistes loyca)

Other Names (World)
Long-tailed Meadowlark, Red-breasted Starling, Greater Red-breasted Meadowlark

Family
Icteridae (New World Blackbirds)

Size
25 - 28 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Molina, 1782)

Habitat
Temperate grassland and shrubland. From sea-level - 2,500 m.

Range (Guide)

Argentina, Chile, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Population
Estimated population is unknown (2020) and stable.

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (57)...)

Long-tailed Meadowlark (Leistes loyca) [XC822527]
by Bernard BOUSQUET from Los Gigantes, Cruz del Eje, C\u00f3rdoba, Argentina (song)

Long-tailed Meadowlark (Leistes loyca) [XC89451]
by Heraldo V. Norambuena from Cerro Negro, Tierra del Fuego, XII Region, Chile (song)

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, C�rdoba and Buenos Aires south to Tierra del Fuego).
obscura Nores and Yzurieta, 1979 - Sierras de C�rdoba and San Luis, in central Argentina.
falklandicus (Leverk�hn, 1889) - Falkland Is.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Long-tailed Meadowlark (Leistes loyca) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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