Blanford's Lark

Taxobox
name = Blanford's Lark
status = NR


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Alaudidae
genus = "Calandrella"
species = "C. blanfordi"
binomial = "Calandrella blanfordi"
binomial_authority = (Shelley, 1902)

Blanford's Lark or Blanford's Short-toed Lark ("Calandrella blanfordi") is a small passerine bird of the lark family, Alaudidae. It occurs in north-east Africa and Arabia. Its name commemorates the English zoologist William Thomas Blanford. It was formerly included in either the Greater Short-toed Lark ("C. brachydactyla") or the Red-capped Lark ("C. cinerea") but is now commonly treated as a separate species. Erlanger's Lark ("C. erlangeri") is sometimes included in this species.

It is 14-15 centimetres long. The upperparts are pale sandy-brown with some darker streaking and the crown is rufous. The underparts are pale and plain apart from a small dark patch on the side of the neck made up of vertical streaks. The Greater Short-toed Lark is similar but has a greyer, more-streaked crown. Erlanger's and Red-capped Larks have darker upperparts with more streaking and a darker rufous crown. Erlanger's Lark has larger dark neck-patches while in Red-capped Lark the patches are rufous.

Blanford's Lark has a sparrow-like flight-call. The song is given in a circular song-flight and includes a mixture of "chew-chew-chew-chew" notes and fluid phrases.

There are three subspecies: "C. b. blanfordi" in Eritrea, "C. b. daaroodensis" in northern Somalia and "C. b. eremica" in Yemen and south-west Saudi Arabia. They occur on open stony plains, often with bushes. In Arabia it breeds between 1,800 and 2,500 metres above sea-level with some birds dispersing to lower ground in winter. The species is often seen in flocks outside the breeding season.

References

*aut|Arlott, Norman (2007) "Birds of the Palearctic: Passerines", HarperCollins, London.
*aut|Beolens, Bo & Watkins, Michael (2003) "Whose Bird?: Men and women commemorated in the common names of birds", Christopher Helm, London.
*aut|Hollom, P. A. D.; Porter, R. F.; Christensen, S. & Willis, Ian (1988) "Birds of the Middle East and North Africa", T & AD Poyser, Calton, England.
*aut|Sinclair, Ian & Ryan, Peter (2003) "Birds of Africa south of the Sahara", Struik, Cape Town.