jgerue's Identifications

I think that this is correct. Very dark brown (verging on black) lateral crown stripes and white stripes on either side (as opposed to medium brown and tan), and no yellow in the malar, make this an Eastern/Chihuahuan Meadowlark.
I watched the tail as it spread just before landing and it appeared to me to show the typical straight rectangle of brown feathers in the central rectrices (or white covering the outer four rectrices). But it was fairly brief, so possible S. magna instead. Unfortunately I did not hear it vocalize at all. Either would be pretty unusual here, I believe.