• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Range map
• Resources

Taxonomic note

Leistes militaris (del Hoyo and Collar 2016) was previously placed in the genus Sturnella following AOU (1998 & supplements); SACC (2005 & updates); Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993); Stotz et al. (1996).

 

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Least Concern
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	8,310,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	5000000-49999999 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2016
Population trend	increasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	3.1 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number 5-50 million mature individuals (Partners in Flight 2019). The species is described as 'common' (Stotz et al. 1996).

Trend justification: The species is undergoing a large, significant increase (Partners in Flight 2019).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	vagrant	yes
Bolivia	extant	native	yes
Brazil	extant	native	yes
Colombia	extant	native	yes
Costa Rica	extant	native	yes
Ecuador	extant	native	yes
El Salvador	extant	vagrant	yes
French Guiana	extant	native	yes
Guyana	extant	native	yes
Nicaragua	extant	vagrant	yes
Panama	extant	native	yes
Peru	extant	native	yes
Suriname	extant	native	yes
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native	yes
Venezuela	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	major	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	major	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	resident
Savanna	Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 1740 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: Red-breasted Meadowlark Leistes militaris. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/red-breasted-meadowlark-leistes-militaris on 25/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 25/01/2025.