Long-tailed Meadowlark

Long-tailed meadowlark males average 27 cm (11 in) long. Males weigh an average of 112 g (4.0 oz) and females 97 g (3.4 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies L. l. loyca have a mostly blackish head with a long supercilium that is red from the bill to the eye and white beyond it, a white lower eyelid, and a short white "moustache". Their upperparts, wings, and tail are mostly brown with blackish streaks. A few wing coverts are rosy red and the underwing coverts are pale grayish white. Their chin, throat, and breast are rosy red with blackish sides. Their belly is black and their flanks and undertail coverts are striped with buffish and black. Adult females have an all-white supercilium. Their upperparts are paler than the male's. Their throat is white, their central belly is pale red, and the rest of their underparts are heavily streaked like their back. Juveniles resemble adult females with little or red on the belly. Males of subspecies L. l. catamarcanus are paler than the nominate. L. l. obscurus males are darker and the red of their underparts does not extend to the lower belly. L. l. falklandicus has a longer bill with a wider tip than the nominate and its outermost tail feathers have some white. Both sexes of all subspecies have a dark brown iris, a bluish ivory bill with a blackish brown tip, and gray-brown legs and feet.

The long-tailed meadowlark has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies has the largest range. It is found in Chile from the southern part of the Atacama Region south to Cape Horn and in Argentina from a line roughly from San Juan Province to the Atlantic in Buenos Aires Province south to Tierra del Fuego. Subspecies L. l. catamarcanus is found between northwestern Argentina's Jujuy and Catamarca provinces. L. l. obscurus is found in north-central Argentina's Córdoba and San Luis provinces. L. l. falklandicus is found in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) but has reached South Georgia as a vagrant. The island subspecies is locally known as the "military starling". The long-tailed meadowlark's habitat varies geographically, though most landscapes are generally moderately moist to dry grassland and steppe. In the dry Andes it typically is found near marshes or watercourses and in irrigated fields. L. l. obscurus inhabits a more humid area of rocky grasslands and shrub-steppe. At the northern end of its Atlantic coastal range the species inhabits bunchgrass among the dunes. In the southern reaches of its range in Patagonia it inhabits moist to humid shrub-steppe and occurs at the edges and in clearings of Nothofagus forest. In the Falklands it favors fields of whitegrass (Cortaderia pilosa) and also is found in settlements. …

The long-tailed meadowlark feeds mostly on insects; other arthropods and fruits are a minor part of its diet. It has been observed feeding on maize (Zea mays) in Argentina. It has been reported feeding on growing potatoes in the Falklands. It feeds mostly on the ground, where it turns over debris and other items to expose prey, and in low vegetation. It commonly is seen perched on fenceposts, on rocks, and on shrubs and in trees. It typically forages in flocks that in the non-breeding season may reach 100 individuals.