Lark

Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. All species occur in the Old World, and in northern and eastern Australia; only one, the Shore Lark, has spread to North America, where it is called the Horned Lark. Habitats vary widely, but many species live in dry regions.

Description

Larks are small to medium-sized birds, 12 to 24 cm (5 to 8 inches) in length and 15 to 75 grams (0.5 to 2.6 ounces) in weight (Kikkawa 2003).

They have more elaborate calls than most birds, and often extravagant songs given in display flight (Kikkawa 2003). These melodious sounds (to human ears), combined with a willingness to expand into anthropogenic habitats — as long as these are not too intensively managed — have ensured larks a prominent place in literature and music, especially the Skylark in northern Europe and the Crested Lark and Calandra Lark in southern Europe.

With these song flights, males defend their breeding territories and attract mates. Most species build nests on the ground, usually cups of dead grass, but in some species more complicated and partly domed. A few desert species nest very low in bushes, perhaps so circulating air can cool the nest. Larks' eggs are usually speckled, and clutch sizes range from 2 (especially in species of the driest deserts) to 6 (in species of temperate regions). Larks incubate for 11 to 16 days (Kikkawa 2003).

Like many ground birds, most lark species have long hind claws, which are thought to provide stability while standing. Most have streaked brown plumage, some boldly marked with black or white. Their dull appearance camouflages them on the ground, especially when on the nest. They feed on insects and seeds; though adults of most species eat seeds primarily, all species feed their young insects for at least the first week after hatching. Many species dig with their bills to uncover food. Some larks have heavy bills (reaching an extreme in the Thick-billed Lark) for cracking seeds open, while others have long, down-curved bills, which are especially suitable for digging (Kikkawa 2003).

Larks are the only passerines that lose all their feathers in their first moult (in all species whose first moult is known). This may result from the poor quality of the chicks' feathers, which in turn may result from the benefits to the parents of switching the young to a lower-quality diet (seeds), which requires less work from the parents (Kikkawa 2003).

In many respects, including long tertial feathers, larks resemble other ground birds such as pipits. However, in larks the tarsus (the lowest leg bone, connected to the toes) has only one set of scales on the rear surface, which is rounded. Pipits and all other songbirds have two plates of scales on the rear surface, which meet at a protruding rear edge (Ridgway 1907).

Relationships

Larks are a well-defined family, partly because of the shape of the tarsus (Ridgway 1907). They were long placed at or near the beginning of the songbirds or oscines (now often called Passeri), just after the suboscines and before the swallows, for example in the American Ornithologists' Union's first check-list (American Ornithologists' Union 1886, according to Patterson 2002). Some authorities, such as the British Ornithologists' Union (Dudley et al. 2006) and the Handbook of the Birds of the World, adhere to that placement. However, many other classifications follow the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy in placing the larks in a large oscine subgroup Passerida (which excludes crows, shrikes and their allies, vireos, and many groups characteristic of Australia and southeastern Asia). For instance, the American Ornithologists' Union places larks just after the crows, shrikes, and vireos. At a finer level of detail, some now place the larks at the beginning of a superfamily Sylvioidea with the swallows, various "Old World warbler" and "babbler" groups, and others (Barker et al. 2002, Alström et al. 2006).

Species in taxonomic order

FAMILY: ALAUDIDAE Genus: Mirafra
Monotonous Lark, Mirafra passerina
Singing Bushlark, Mirafra cantillans
Australasian Bushlark, Mirafra javanica
Latakoo Lark, Mirafra cheniana
White-tailed Lark, Mirafra albicauda
Madagascar Lark, Mirafra hova
Kordofan Lark, Mirafra cordofanica
Williams's Lark, Mirafra williamsi
Friedmann's Lark, Mirafra pulpa
Red-winged Lark, Mirafra hypermetra
Somali Long-billed Lark, Mirafra somalica
Ash's Lark, Mirafra ashi
Angola Lark, Mirafra angolensis
Rufous-naped Lark, Mirafra africana
Flappet Lark, Mirafra rufocinnamomea
Clapper Lark, Mirafra apiata
Collared Lark, Mirafra collaris
Indian Bushlark or Red-winged Bushlark, Mirafra erythroptera
Gillett's Lark, Mirafra gilletti
Fawn-colored Lark, Mirafra africanoides (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
Rufous-winged Bushlark, Mirafra assamica
Jerdon's Bushlark Mirafra affinis
Rusty Lark, Mirafra rufa
Pink-breasted Lark, Mirafra poecilosterna (sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
Degodi Lark, Mirafra degodiensis
Sabota Lark, Mirafra sabota(sometimes placed in Calendulauda)
Genus: Pinarocorys
Rufous-rumped Lark, Pinarocorys erythropygia
Dusky Lark, Pinarocorys nigricans
Genus: Heteromirafra
Archer's Lark, Heteromirafra archeri
Sidamo Lark, Heteromirafra sidamoensis
Rudd's Lark, Heteromirafra ruddi
Genus: Certhilauda
Cape Lark, Certhilauda curvirostris
Algulhas Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda brevirostris
Eastern Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda semitorquata
Karoo Long-billed Lark, Certhilauda subcoronata
Benguela Lark, Certhilauda benguelensis
Short-clawed Lark, Certhilauda chuana
Dune Lark, Certhilauda erythrochlamys
Karoo Lark, Certhilauda albescens
Barlow's Lark, Certhilauda barlowi
Ferruginous Lark, Certhilauda burra
Genus: Chersomanes
Spike-heeled Lark, Chersomanes albofasciata
Genus: Eremopterix
Black-eared Sparrow-lark, Eremopterix australis
Chestnut-backed Sparrow-lark, Eremopterix leucotis
Black-crowned Sparrow-lark, Eremopterix nigriceps
Grey-backed Sparrow-lark, Eremopterix verticalis
Chestnut-headed Sparrow-lark, Eremopterix signata
Fischer's Sparrow-lark, Eremopterix leucopareia
Ashy-crowned Sparrow-lark, Eremopterix grisea
Genus: Ammomanes
Bar-tailed Lark, Ammomanes cincturus
Rufous-tailed Lark, Ammomanes phoenicurus
Desert Lark, Ammomanes deserti
Gray's Lark, Ammomanes grayi
Genus: Alaemon
Greater Hoopoe-lark, Alaemon alaudipes
Lesser Hoopoe-lark, Alaemon hamertoni
Genus: Ramphocoris
Thick-billed Lark, Ramphocoris clotbey
Genus: Melanocorypha
Calandra Lark, Melanocorypha calandra
Bimaculated Lark, Melanocorypha bimaculata
Tibetan Lark, Melanocorypha maxima
Mongolian Lark, Melanocorypha mongolica
White-winged Lark, Melanocorypha leucoptera
Black Lark, Melanocorypha yeltoniensis
Genus: Calandrella
Greater Short-toed Lark, Calandrella brachydactyla
Blanford's Lark, Calandrella blanfordi
Hume's Lark, Calandrella acutirostris
Lesser Short-toed Lark, Calandrella rufescens
Red-capped Lark, Calandrella cinerea
Asian Short-toed Lark, Calandrella cheleensis
Sand Lark, Calandrella raytal
Somali Short-toed Lark, Calandrella somalica
Genus: Spizocorys
Pink-billed Lark, Spizocorys conirostris
Botha's Lark, Spizocorys fringillaris
Sclater's Lark, Spizocorys sclateri
Obbia Lark, Spizocorys obbiensis
Masked Lark, Spizocorys personata
Genus: Eremalauda
Dunn's Lark, Eremalauda dunni
Stark's Lark, Eremalauda starki
Genus: Chersophilus
Dupont's Lark, Chersophilus duponti
Genus: Galerida
Crested Lark, Galerida cristata
Thekla Lark, Galerida theklae
Malabar Lark, Galerida malabarica
Sun Lark, Galerida modesta
Sykes's Lark, Tawny Lark or Sykes' Crested Lark, Galerida deva
Large-billed Lark, Galerida magnirostris
Genus: Pseudalaemon
Short-tailed Lark, Pseudalaemon fremantlii
Genus: Lullula
Wood Lark, Lullula arborea
Genus: Alauda
Skylark, Alauda arvensis
Japanese Skylark, Alauda japonica
Oriental Skylark, Alauda gulgula
Raso Skylark, Alauda razae
Genus: Eremophila
Shore Lark or Horned Lark, Eremophila alpestris
Temminck's Lark, Eremophila bilopha

Translation of "Lark"

Arabic: قبرة, Bulgarian: Чучулигови, Breton: Alaudidae, Catalan: Alàudid, German: Lerchen, Spanish: Alaudidae, Esperanto: Alaŭdedoj, Persian: چکاوک, French: Alouette (oiseau), Irish: Fuiseog, Ido: Alaudo, Italian: Alaudidae, Lithuanian: Vieversiniai, Hungarian: Pacsirtafélék, Marathi: चंडोल, Dutch: Leeuweriken, Japanese: ヒバリ科, Norwegian (Bokmål): Lerkefamilien, Norwegian (Nynorsk): Lerkefamilien, Polish: Skowronki, Portuguese: Alaudidae, Romanian: Ciocârlie, Russian: Жаворонковые, Sicilian: Alaudidae, Slovenian: Škrjanci, Finnish: Kiurut, Swedish: Lärkor, Turkish: Toygargiller, Ukrainian: Жайворонок, Chinese: 百灵科.