Blanford's lark

Blanford's lark or Blanford's short-toed lark (Calandrella blanfordi) is a small passerine bird of the lark family, Alaudidae, which is native to north-eastern Africa. Its common name commemorates the English zoologist William Thomas Blanford.

Taxonomy and systematics

Blanford's lark 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. Alternate names for Blanford's lark include Blandford's lark, Blandford's short-toed lark and Blanford's red-capped lark.

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized:

• C. b. blanfordi - (Shelley, 1902): Found in northern Eritrea
• C. b. erlangeri - Erlanger's lark- (Neumann, 1906): Found in Ethiopia

Description

Blanford's lark 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.

Habitat and movements

They occur on open stony plains, often with bushes. In Arabia, it breeds between 1800 and 2500 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

• Arlott, Norman (2007) Birds of the Palearctic: Passerines, HarperCollins, London.
• Beolens, Bo & Watkins, Michael (2003) Whose Bird?: Men and women commemorated in the common names of birds, Christopher Helm, London.
• 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.
• Sinclair, Ian & Ryan, Peter (2003) Birds of Africa south of the Sahara, Struik, Cape Town.

1. Lark
2. Eurasian skylark
3. Woodlark
4. List of lark species
5. Erlanger's lark
6. Crested lark
7. Foxy lark
8. Rufous-capped lark
9. List of birds by common name
10. Flappet lark
11. William Thomas Blanford
12. Spike-heeled lark
13. Ash's lark
14. Maghreb lark
15. Horned lark
16. Angola lark
17. List of birds of Africa
18. Beesley's lark
19. 1902 in birding and ornithology
20. White-tailed lark