Calandra lark

Melanocorypha calandra

TAXONOMY

Alauda calandra Linnaeus, 1766, Pyrenees.

OTHER COMMON NAMES

French: Alouette calandre; German: Kalanderlerche; Spanish: Calandria Común.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

7.1–7.5 in (18–19 cm); male 2.0–2.6 oz (57–73 g); female 1.8–2.2 oz (50–65 g); larger and stronger than skylark. Bill conical and heavy. Upperparts brown and streaked, black patches on each side of upper breast characteristic. Sexes alike.

DISTRIBUTION

North Africa, southern Europe east to Ural steppes, from Asia Minor to central Asia, missing between Caspian Sea and Lake Aral.

HABITAT

Open lowlands, steppe, grasslands, cultivated farmland, and meadows.

BEHAVIOR

Resident in southern Europe, Near East, and North Africa, migratory in Russia. Forms flocks of up to 2,500 individuals autumn and winter; frequently associated with other larks and corn bunting (Miliaria calandra). Male utters continuous song from ground or perch. Song-flight performed in circles, ascending in spirals. Several males often sing close together. Song similar to skylark, contains imitations of other birds.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Diet changes from insects during summer to seeds in winter. Bill used for digging.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Monogamous. Two broods April through June; both sexes build cup-shaped nest, clutch size ranges from three to six eggs, incubated by female, but brood patch also observed in several males. Young hatch after 16 days; fed by both parents. Leave nest after 10 days before being able to fly.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened, though population is declining in southern Europe due to agricultural intensification and possibly hunting; listed in Annex I of the European Birds Directive.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

Hunted in the Mediterranean region.

Calandra Lark
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Alaudidae Genus: Melanocorypha Species: M. calandra
Binomial name
Melanocorypha calandra (Linnaeus, 1766)

The Calandra Lark, Melanocorypha calandra, breeds in warm temperate countries around the Mediterranean and eastwards through Turkey into northern Iran and southern Russia. It is replaced further east by its relative, the Bimaculated Lark.

It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but Russian populations of this passerine bird are more migratory, moving further south in winter, as far as the Arabian peninsula and Egypt. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

This is a bird of open cultivation and steppe. Its nest is on the ground, with 4-5 eggs being laid. Food is seeds supplemented with insects in the breeding season. It is gregarious outside the breeding season.

This is a large, robust lark, 17.5-20 cm long. It is an undistinguished looking species on the ground, mainly streaked greyish-brown above and white below, and with large black patches on the breast sides. It has a white supercilium.

In flight it shows short broad wings, which are dark below, and a short white-edged tail. The wing and tail patterns are distinctions from its more easterly relatives.

The song is like a slower version of that of the Skylark.

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Melanocorypha calandra. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

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