John James Audubon had the chance to explore the southern Atlantic coast of North America beginning in November of 1831. In between Charleston, South Carolina, and St. Augustine, Florida, Audubon watched and studied the birds that were attracted to the Longleaf pine savannah woodlands that dominated at the time much of the southeastern United States. Among the most numerous was the Meadow Lark which is now commonly known as the Eastern meadowlark.
In the places where indigenous people had recently set fires to maintain the savannah woodlands, the birds were almost unrecognizable. The Eastern meadowlark “filled” the savannah woodlands looking “as sooty as the Sparrows residing in London.” When not exposed by fire in a savannah woodland, Eastern meadowlarks typically find bugs and insects to eat in open grasslands and meadows. The numbers of Eastern meadowlarks are crashing along with the almost complete elimination of pine savannah woodlands and diminishing open grasslands and meadows.