From Opus

Photo by IanF
Location: Seaton Common, Seaton Carew, Cleveland, UK

Alauda arvensis

Photo by Mahsleb
Location: Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve, Essex, UK

[edit] Identification

18cm.

• Brown above with streaked back
• Buff, dark streaked breast
• Streaked crown with crest
• White belly and undertail coverts
• White supercilium
• White outer tail feathers
• Thin bill
• Pink legs

[edit] Similar Species

For differences between Eurasian Skylark and Meadow Pipit see this thread in Tips for New Birders Forum

[edit] Distribution

Breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of North Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range, many birds move to lowlands and the coast in winter. Asian birds appear as vagrants in Alaska; this bird has also been introduced in Hawaii and near Vancouver, Washington.

[edit] Taxonomy

There are 13 subspecies.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

European Group

• A. a. arvensis:

• Azores; Europe from Wales to Norway, Ural Mountains and Alps

• A. a. scotica:

• Ireland, north-western England, Scotland and Faeroe Islands

• A. a. guillelmi:

• Northern Portugal and north-western Spain

• A. a. sierrae:

• Central and southern Portugal to southern Spain

• A. a. harterti:

• Mountains of north-western Africa

• A. a. cantarella:

• Southern Europe to Balkans, Crimea and Iran; >Northern Africa

• A. a. armenica:

• Transcaucasia and eastern Turkey to south-western Iran (Zagros and Elburz mts.)
  

Asian Group

• A. a. dulcivox:

• South-eastern Russia to Yenisey basin and Afghanistan; >north-western India

• A. a. kiborti:

• Southern Siberia to northern Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea; >eastern China

• A. a. intermedia:

• South-eastern Siberia to lower Amur River and north-eastern Manchuria; >eastern China

• A. a. pekinensis:

• North-eastern Siberia to Sea of Okhotsk, Kamchatka Pen. and Kuril Islands

• A. a. lonnbergi:

• Shantar and Sakhalin islands (Sea of Okhotsk); >Japan

• A. a. japonica:

• Major islands in Japanese Archipelago; >Ryukyu Islands

[edit] Habitat

Breeds in open countryside, fields, moors, rough grazing and sand dunes, etc. Winters beside estuaries, on golf courses and cultivated land.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

The diet includes seeds and insects.

[edit] Breeding

3-4 eggs are laid and incubated for 11-12 days; the young fledge 9-10 days later. There can be 2 broods.

[edit] Vocalisation

Song: is delivered from high in the sky.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

1. mbr-pwrc.usgs
2. eNature

• List of references

[edit] External Links