Sand Lark

Taxobox
name = Sand Lark
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
status_ref = [IUCN2006|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=52895|title=Acridotheres ginginianus|downloaded=2007-04-21 Evaluations in 1988 / 1994 / 2000, all LC. Least concern as species is described as 'frequent' in at least parts of its range (Grimmett et al. 1998)] cite book
last = Grimmett
first = Richard
coauthors = Carol Inskipp, and Tim Inskipp
collaborators = Sarath Kotagama and Shahid Ali
illustrators = Clive Byers, Daniel Cole, John Cox, Gerald Driessens, CarlD'Silva, Martin Elliott, Kim Franklin, Alan Harris, Peter Hayman, CraigRobson, Jan Wilczur, and Tim Worfolk
title = Guide to the Birds of Indian subcontinent
year = 1998
publisher= Christopher Helm
address = London
isbn= 0-691-04910-6 ]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Alaudidae
genus = "Calandrella"
species = "C. raytal"
binomial = "Calandrella raytal"
binomial_authority = (Hume, 1871)

:"Sand Lark" can also be an alias for the common sandpiper."

The Sand Lark, also known as India Short-toed Lark or Indian Sand Larkcite book
title = Photographic guide to birds of India
last = Grewal
first = Bikram
authorlink = Bikram Grewal
coauthors = Bill Harvey and Otto Pfister
publisher = Periplus editions / Princeton University Press
address = Hong Kong
year = 2002 p. 394.] ("Calandrella raytal"), is a small passerine bird in the
lark ("Alaudidae") family, largely resident in the rivervalleys of South Asia from Pakistan through sub-Himalayan
India to Bangladesh. It is somewhat similar, but smaller than, the
Short-toed Lark.

Distribution

It is found east of Jammu of India-occupied Kashmir, through into Hindustan
Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal terai and plains, Bihar, northern West Bengal, Bhutan foothills,
Brahmaputra valley in Assam, and in Bangladesh, extending into
Myanmar along the rivers such as the lower Irrawadyand Chindwin. Also Madhya Pradesh south to Hoshangabad and Mhowcite book
last = Ali
first = Salim
authorlink=Salim Ali (ornithologist)
coauthors = Sidney Dillon Ripley
title = Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, 2nd ed.,10 vols
year = 1986/2001
edition = 2nd
publisher=Oxford University Press
address = New DelhiBird Number 891, vol. 5, p. 27-29.] .

Description

Slightly smaller than the sparrow (ca. 13cm), theSand Lark is greyish sandy, with dark brown streaks, from above, while thebelly is white, sparsely and indistinctly dark-streaked on the sides.
Supercilium and cheeks are white. Shortish black and white tail. Sexesalike.

Keeps singly or in scattered twos or threes; innon-breeding season in small flocks of up to 20 or 30. Runs about feeding onbare sandy flats in the characteristic zigzag jerky spurts of the family.

Voice

In breeding season, the male has a distinctive song flight. Soaring aloft about 30m it flies about with intermittent series of wing flaps andpauses while singing, finally shooting down vertically with closed wings and flattening out while a metre or so from the ground before alighting on aclod or stone.cite book
last = Ali
first = Salim
authorlink=Salim Ali (ornithologist)
coauthors = J C Daniel
title = The book of Indian Birds, Twelfth Centenary edition
year = 1983
publisher=Bombay Natural History Society/Oxford University Press
address = New Delhi]

Food

Weed seeds and insects.

Nesting

* Season: February to May.
* Nest: A cup like depression in the ground at the base of a shrub, lined with grass, hair, etc.
* Eggs: 3, sometimes 2. Yellowish or greyish white, freckled with brown. Both sexes share domestic chores.

References