Page 272 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

LARKS
Order Passeriformes Family Alaudidae Species Melanocorypha calandra
Calandra Lark large,
triangular,
streaked cap pale bill with
dark ridge
boldly marked
head
dark cheeks,
white-edged
dark upperwings below
blackish with broad
underwings white edge large black
with white closely neck patch
edge streaked
back
white underparts
with fine streaks
on chest
IN FLIGHT

FLIGHT: low, heavy, shallow but sometimes quick
wingbeats; song-flight high, drifting, with unusually
slow wingbeats.
his large, hefty lark of Mediterranean
Tregions is characteristic of open plains:
either dry steppe grassland or cultivated
areas with vast expanses of corn. Calandra
Larks may also congregate in marshy areas,
especially in salty areas in depressions or
near the sea; non-breeding flocks sometimes
number scores or hundreds. Like most larks,
they sing in flight, drifting around high VARIABLE PATCH
up with slow, stiff wingbeats. Resident in The black neck patch is obvious
southwest Europe, more migratory in when the lark raises its head, but
southeast Europe, Calandras are extremely is hidden when it is hunched down.
rare vagrants farther north outside their
breeding range.
VOICE Dry, sizzly or trilling schrreeup;
song in high flight prolonged, rich, varied
like Skylark’s but slower.
NESTING Grass cup on ground, in
vegetation; 4–7 eggs; 2 broods;April–June.
FEEDING Searches ground for seeds,
shoots, and insects.
SIMILAR SPECIES OCCURRENCE
Resident in Spain, Portugal, S
no dark SHORT-TOED LARK CORN BUNTING France, Italy, and locally in Balkans;
neck patch see p.269 see p.403
extremely rare outside its usual
smaller plainer
much smaller breeding range. In farmland and
neck patch pale wings open, dry, stony grassland in low-
lands, sometimes in flocks in saline
smaller
paler and paler depressions with shrubby growth.
wings
SKYLARK Seen in the UK
see p.265 JF M A M J JA S ON D
Length 17–20cm (6 1 ⁄2 –8in) Wingspan 35–40cm (14–16in) Weight 45–50g (1 5 ⁄8 –1 3 ⁄4oz)
Social Flocks Lifespan Up to 5 years Status Declining†
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