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24

Woodlark (Lullula arborea) Alternate name(s): "Wood Lark", "Tree Lark" German name(s): "Heidelerche" Size: 13.5-15 cm; wing span 27-30 cm Body mass: 25-35 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.17-0.24

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 Woodlarks are a small larks. Their plumage is highly cryptic. The face is dominated by a white chin/throat, extending into a white fringe below the red-brown ear coverts. Below the eyes, and around the top of the ear coverts, there is a grey band that connects to two faint black moustachial stripes. The front is light-grey, with red-brown and near-black streaks down the chest. The head is streaked red-brown and near-black, the hindneck is light-brown with near-black faint streask, while all of the back, including the folded wings, is red-brown, with lighter brown and near-black streaking. The prominent light-grey supercilia connect in the shape of a "V" at the nape of the neck. The tail is short, with a thin white terminal band. In-flight the upperwings are dark-grey, with a white wing bar and a black patch near the alula. The irises are dark-brown. The slender bill is horn-coloured, with a darker base. Legs and feet are greyish-pink.

Taxonomy, classification See Woodlark 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 Woodlark is available HERE . There are 2 races of Woodlarks, namely nominate race "arborea", and race "pallida". Both races are partly sedentary and partly migratory. Their overall range extends from western Europe and north-western near-coastal Africa, via much of Europe and Asia Minor, to western Russia and Iran in the East. In Europe both races of Woodlarks are present. Nominate race "arborea" populates northern, western and central Europe, roughly northward of the Pyrenees and the Alps. While to the West of the river Rhine (southern and western France; southern near-coastal England) they are sedentary, members of this race are migratory elsewhere. Their breeding range reaches as far to the North as Denmark, southern Sweden and southern-most Finland. Their breeding range extends eastwards as far as Ukraine and western Russia, up to the Dnjepr River. They spend the northern winters in southern Europe. Race "pallida" is present around the Mediterranean and throughout the Balkans, with the Danube River as the northern boundary. They are mostly sedentary. Woodlarks are found primarily in open forest, with a preference pine on sandy soil, but they also stay in mixed or deciduous forest with clearings or in heath with scattered copses.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "arborea" H. Dahlem-Senger reports finding a Woodlark, nominate race "arborea", near Arnhem, Netherlands, in April 2018. D. Wilczynska found a Woodlark, race "arborea", along the River Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, in June 2018. Race "pallida" J. Pires reports finding Woodlarks, race "pallida", semi-regularly in the area of Mora, Evora, Portugal, to Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal. A. Sarok found a Woodlark, race "pallida", in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.

Photos

Race "arborea"

This race is also called the "Northern Woodlark".

ADULT

Lateral view of a Woodlark (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[River Bug, near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, June 2018]

Lateral view of a Woodlark (photo courtesy of H. Dahlem-Senger)
[Near Arnhem, Netherlands, April 2018]

Race "pallida"

This race is also called the "Southern Woodlark".

ADULT

PAIR

Frontal/lateral view of a pair of Woodlarks (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, January 2022]

Near-frontal view of a Woodlark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Circuito das Charcas, Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2023]

Near-frontal view of a Woodlark looking sideways (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal, October 2013]

Lateral view of a Woodlark foraging on the ground (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal, January 2018]

Lateral view of a Woodlark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil Dam, Ponte de Sor, Portalegre, Portugal, January 2025]

Lateral view of a Woodlark on a meadow (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Vojvodina, Serbia, date unknown]

Lateral/ventral view of a Woodlark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a Woodlark on the ground (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2014]

Near-dorsal view of a Woodlark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2016]

Near-dorsal/ventral view of a Woodlark (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2020]

Dorsal view of a Woodlark, crest flat (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2021]

Dorsal view of a Woodlark, crest erected (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, March 2021]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Woodlark - note the buff tips of the wing coverts (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Herdade dos Condes, Malarranha, Mora, Evora, Portugal, May 2022]

Behaviour

Woodlarks are sedentary in the southern and south-western part of their European range. Elsewhere they are migratory.

Near-frontal/lateral view of a pair of Woodlarks taking a dust bath (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Franca de Xira, Tejo estuary, Portugal, January 2022]

Food, Diet

Lateral view of a Woodlark that has found a morsel of food (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil Dam, Ponte de Sor, Portalegre, Portugal, January 2025]

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 Woodlark 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.