The eastern meadowlark (Sturnella magna) is a striking bird in its own right, but it also sings a loud, melodious song that you can’t miss if you’re listening at all. If you follow that song, they usually aren’t hard to spot. Fortunately, they aren’t shy like some of our other songbirds, and you can often see them perched on fence posts, snags, and bare tree branches. I most often see them on fence posts, but this one was perched on a dead bit of an oak tree. It wasn’t singing at the time I spotted it there. It was just having a good look at the surrounding farm fields. It didn’t stay there for long, though, and it flew down to one of the fence posts across the road and started belting out its beautiful song. A pretty song and a colorful bird are not a bad way to start off the morning.