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24

Greater Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) Alternate name(s): "European Greater Short-toed Lark", "Mediterranean Greater Short-toed Lark", "Palestine Greater Short-toed Lark" (race "brachydactyla") "Transcaucasian Greater Short-toed Lark" (race "artemisiana") German name(s): "Kurzzehenlerche" Size: 13-15 cm; wing span 27-32 cm Body mass: 18-25 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.16-0.22

Europe: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table White Wagtail Western Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail Tawny Pipit Berthelot's Pipit Red-throated Pipit Tree Pipit Meadow Pipit Water Pipit Eurasian Rock Pipit Greater Short-toed Lark Calandra Lark Woodlark Eurasian Skylark Bearded Reedling House Sparrow Tree Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Rock Sparrow Trumpeter Finch European Serin Atlantic Canary Red-fronted Serin Eurasian Siskin Common Redpoll Arctic Redpoll Twite Common Linnet Brambling Common Chaffinch European Goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch Hawfinch Common Crossbill Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cirl Bunting Common Reed Bunting Little Bunting Ortolan Bunting Black-headed Bunting Corn Bunting Rock Bunting House Bunting Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Greater Short-toed Larks are a small larks. Their plumage is highly cryptic. With the exception of a pale-brownish breast, their underparts, from chin to undertail coverts, are off-white to creamy. Most have a small dark patch each on the sides of the chest. The upperparts are streaked light- and dark-brown, with wide creamy margins on the wing feathers. Some individuals (mostly in Iberia and northern Africa) have a rufous-tinted crown. The sides of the head are mostly off-white to creamy, except for the pale-brown ear coverts, the upper dark fringes of which look like dark eye-stripes. Worn plumage in spring looks more greyish than fresh plumage in autumn. The eyes have dark irises. The short, strong bill is yellowish to horn-coloured, with a grey culmen. Legs and feet are greyish-pink.

Taxonomy, classification See Greater Short-toed Lark at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Greater Short-toed Lark is available HERE . The Greater Short-toed Lark is a migratory species with 8 extant races (for details see a field guide). Their overall distribution ranges from the Azores and Iceland in the West, via the fringes of the Sahara desert and Europe up to the Baltic Sea into Asia Minor, parts of the Middle East, Arabia and southern and central Asia, as far to the East as Korea and some islands off the West coast of Japan. They breed in the northern parts of their range and overwinter in the southern parts, mostly sub-Saharan Africa and India. In Europe there are 3 races of Greater Short-toed Larks, nominate race "brachydactyla", (the "European Greater Short-toed Lark" or "Palestine Greater Short-toed Lark"), "hungarica" (the "Hungarian Greater Short-toed Lark") and "longipennis" (the "Eastern Greater Short-toed Lark" or "Yarkand Greater Short-toed Lark"). Races "brachydactyla" and "hungarica" breed in the Mediterranean, from most of Iberia via the coastal fringes of southern France and Italy, via the Adriatic coastline to Greece and the western coastline of the Black Sea, including a few breeding sites in inland Hungary. Race "longipennis" breeds in far south-eastern Europe, from the Black Sea to the Caucasus and the Urals. Greater Short-toed Larks have a preference for breeding in open, often arid country, with sparse grass growth, often with sandy patches. Outside the breeding season they prefer agricultural crops and dry pasture with short shrubs.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "brachydactyla" J. Pires reports finding Greater Short-toed Larks, nominate race "brachydactyla", occasionally in the Tejo Estuary, Portugal. Race "artemisiana" D. Wilczynska reports finding Greater Short-toed Larks, race "artemisiana", in Georgia, on the southern slopes of the Caucasus, in June 2016.

Photos

Race "brachydactyla"

This race is also called the "European Greater Short-toed Lark".

ADULT

MALE

Near-frontal/ventral view of a male Greater Short-toed Lark in display flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo Estuary Nature Park, Portugal, April 2017]

Near-frontal view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, April 2022]

Near-lateral view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo Estuary Nature Park, Portugal, April 2017]

Lateral view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, May 2021]

Lateral view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo Estuary Nature Park, Portugal, April 2017]

Dorsal view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, April 2022]

Race "artemisiana"

This race is also called the "Transcaucasian Greater Short-toed Lark".

ADULT

Near-frontal view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Lateral view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Lateral view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Greater Short-toed Lark (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Behaviour

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

More Greater Short-toed Lark sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.