In fresh plumage the black breast marking may be obscured by pale feather fringing as seen here. Not actually a lark, meadowlarks are New World blackbirds (Icterids). The scientific name (S. neglecta) was provided by J.J. Audubon noting how neglected the species had been, perhaps because of confusion with the Eastern Meadowlark. The two species are hard to distinguish except by song and call-note. The brownish face and yellow extending into the malar area help distinguish the Western Meadowlark from the Eastern. Captive studies have found hybrids between the two species have low fertility preventing gene flow between the two species. Canon PowerShot SX50 HS.
References:
Davis, Stephen K. and Wesley E. Lanyon. 2008. Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.104
Jaramillo, A., & Burke, P. (1999). New World Blackbirds: The Icterids. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.