Owner Comments:
With the next dinosaur in the collection, we have our first passerine or perching bird, which comprise over half of all living bird species. Say hi to the Eastern Meadowlark, species name Sturnella magna.
As the coin shows the bird in color (I love these Canadian coins that show colorized birds!), I don’t have to describe the Eastern Meadowlark’s coloration. It’s better to actually see it anyway, I think. Males and females share the same coloration, but males are larger than females. The Eastern Meadowlark is another theropod rule-breaker when it comes to the typical rule of females being larger than males. Eastern Meadowlarks range between 7.5 to 11 inches in length, with a wingspan between 14 and 16 inches and a weight range between 2.7 to 5.3 ounces. Geographically, Eastern Meadowlarks can be found in Southeastern Canada during their breeding season and from the eastern half of the continental United States down to the very northernmost part of eastern South America as year-long residents. In the central United States, they overlap with the related and similar looking Western Meadowlark.
Eastern Meadowlarks prefer a habitat of open grasslands, prairies and hayfields. Eastern Meadowlarks are omnivorous. They forage on the ground or in low vegetation for insects and arachnids, seeds and berries. Unlike many other theropod dinosaurs, Eastern Meadowlarks are not monogamous. In fact, many males mate with multiple females and protect all of their mates within their territory. Males protect and mark their territories by singing. These guys just love breaking the theropod dinosaur rules!
Eastern Meadowlarks have many predators. These include cats, foxes, snakes, coyotes, skunks, raccoons and some of the smaller falcons and hawks. If they don’t fall prey to one of these predators, Eastern Meadowlarks can live for between 5 and 9 years.
The Eastern Meadowlark is a great choice for the first passerine in this set. Passerines inhabit the largest geographic range of all birds. Based on the fossil record, they also have one of the widest geographic ranges of all known groups of dinosaurs period. This is amazing to contemplate and speaks to the adaptive abilities of this group of modern dinosaurs.
For this awesome coin, I have to give a shout out to my in-laws. This one was a birthday gift from them, and I absolutely adore it!