Africa Wild

502.2 Eastern Long-billed Lark Calendulauda semitorquata (Grasveldlangbeklewerik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Alaudidae


Description
Length 16-20 cm, mass 30-48 g
Upper parts reddish brown with dark brown streaks. Fairly broad, creamy eyebrow, cheeks and ear-coverts whitish and speckled. Tail and flight feahers dark brown with paler margins. Throat whitish, breast creamy buff, lightly streaked rufous brown, belly creamy buff. Bill fairly short and slightly decurved. Eyes brown to pale grey.
Similar species: This species is smaller and less streaked than all other long-billed larks with the upperparts reddish

Distribution
Endemic to South Africa and Lesotho, occurring from Mpumalanga and Gauteng to the North-West Province, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho and the Eastern Cape.



Habitat
Upland grassland and grassy shrublands, usually in rocky terrain.

Diet
It mainly eats invertebrates, doing most of its foraging on the ground, plucking food items from the soil surface and bases of grass tufts.

Breeding
The nest is a cup built of dry grass built mainly by the female, with a clump of peddles in front of it. It is typically placed at the base of a grass tuft or under an overhanging rock in a hollow. It lays 2-3 eggs, usually in the months from September-January, peaking from October-November. The chicks are fed by both parents.

Call
Song is a loud descending whistle.

Status
A common resident in grassland.

502.2 Eastern Long-billed Lark Calendulauda semitorquata

© Puff Addy
Mountain Zebra National Park

Links:
http://sabap2.adu.org.za/species_info.p ... #menu_left

500.1 Agulhas Long-billed Lark Certhilauda brevirostris (Overberglangbeklewerik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Alaudidae


© nan
Bontebok National Park

Description
18–21 cm. Clear white supercilium and eyering; buffish-brown with darker streaks above; pale buffish-white below, dark streaks from breast down to flanks. Long-tail. Longish curved bill (blackish horn with pinnkish base). Iris brown. Legs and feet pinkish brown.
Juvenile: More mottled above and speckled below than adult.
Similar species: Most similar to southern form of Cape Long-billed Lark. but differs by being more buff overall with a shorter bill and tail.

Distribution
Endemic to South Africa, only occurring in the Western Cape's Agulhas Plain, from the Bot River to Caledon east to Mossel Bay.



Habitat
It generally prefers recently ploughed fields, shrubland punctuated with Renosterbos (Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis) and dwarf Karoo shrubland on clay substrate. It avoids mountain fynbos, so its distribution is separated from that of the Karoo and Cape long-billed larks by mountain ranges.

Diet
It mainly eats insects supplemented with seeds, digging with its bill to expose food items or pulling vegetation with its feet.

Breeding
The nest is a cup of dry grass, lined with rootlets and fine leaves and typically placed on the ground beneath a shrub. The female lays 2-3 eggs, usually in the months from September-October.

Call
Plaintive whistled peeeuu, or 2-syllabled mee-too, falling in pitch.

Status
Locally common resident. Endemic.

500.1 Agulhas Long-billed Lark Certhilauda brevirostris

© nan
Bontebok National Park

Links:
Sabap2
Sasol Birds of Southern Africa

505. Dusky Lark Pinarocorys nigricans (Donkerlewerik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Alaudidae


Description
Bold, black-and-white face pattern and a heavy spotting of the underparts. Pale (almost white) legs and a dark back.

Distribution
Its breeding grounds stretch from Tanzana through DRC to northern Zambia and Angola; in the non-breeding season it heads south to southern Africa.

Habitat
Open grassy areas in thornveld and broad-leaved woodland; frequently found in newly burnt grassland and woodland.

Movements and migrations
Intra-African breeding migrant, breeding in winter in the miombo woodlands of central Africa and moving in small groups (occasionally large flocks) south to southern Africa in summer, arriving around October-December. It eventually leaves the region in the period from April-June.

Diet
It eats insects supplemented with seeds, doing most of its foraging on the ground, plucking food items from soil, cow or antelope dung and the bases of grass tufts. It is quite an opportunistic feeder, taking insects flushed by grazing mammals, breaking open dead branches in search of termites.

Status
Uncommon, non-breeding summer visitor.

505. Dusky Lark Pinarocorys nigricans







© Pumbaa
Letaba area, Kruger National Park, Feb 2020

© pooky

© nan
Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Union End waterhole, Jan 2016

© Sprocky
Grietjie Private Reserve, Limpopo

Links:
Sabap2
Species text Sabap1

506. Spike-heeled Lark Chersomanes albofasciata (Vlaktelewerik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Alaudidae


Description
Length 15 cm, weight 20-36 g. The Spike-heeled Lark has a long, slightly decurved bill, an upright stance, a short, white-tipped tail and long, straight hind claws. The breast and belly vary from rufous to pale buff, conrasting with the very white chin and throat. Dark brown above with pale edgingd giving a scaly appearance. In flight, it shows a distinctive white band across the end of the tail. Spike-heeled Larks in northern Namibia are much paler than southern birds.

Distribution
Near-endemic to southern Africa, occurring from south-western Angola through to Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. It is distributed mainly in the Karoo and in the grasslands of the Free State, southcentral Transvaal and northwestern KwaZulu-Natal, with scattered records in southern Botswana and Namibia where the distribution tends to be patchy.

C. a. obscurata: sw, c Angola
C. a. erikssoni: n Namibia
C. a. kalahariae: s, w Botswana and n South Africa
C. a. boweni: nw Namibia
C. a. arenaria: s Namibia and sw South Africa
C. a. barlowi: e Botswana
C. a. alticola: ne South Africa
C. a. albofasciata: se Botswana to c South Africa
C. a. garrula: w South Africa
C. a. macdonaldi: s South Africa

Habitat
It generally prefers sparse grassland, desert grassland and shrubland, generally avoiding croplands and cultivated pastures.

Diet
It mainly eats invertebrates and seeds, doing most of its foraging in the ground, plucking food from the soil surface or from the bases of grasses and forbs. It often looks for food around rodent burrows, and it may even take prey aerially or from the leaves of shrubs.

Breeding
The nest is built by both sexes in about 5 days, consisting of a open cup built of dry grass, twigs and rootlets. It is typically placed in an shallow excavated hole in the ground, usually at the base of a grass tuft or shrub. In arid areas it is often placed in a clump of stones and sticks; facing south or east to maximise shade in the heat of the day. It often lays its eggs in response to rainfall, with the egg-laying season generally peaking around August-December. During times of low rainfall when food is scarce, the Spike-heeled Lark lays a small clutch of only two eggs. But when good rains fall they may lay as many as four to five eggs, and may also raise several broods to make up for fewer chicks. The eggs are incubated solely by the female for about 12-13 days. The chicks are fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about 8-12 days, before they are able to fly. They usually become independent a few days later.

Call
Short, rapid, muffled trill, descending in pitch piree-piree-piree. Listen to Bird Call

Status
Fairly common near-endemic.

506. Spike-heeled Lark Chersomanes albofasciata

© pooky

© nan

© nan

© Mel

© Dewi
Namibia

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2

514. Gray's Lark Ammomanopsis grayi (Namiblewerik)
Order: Passeriformes. Family: Alaudidae


Description
Length about 14 cm. Very pale overall; above plain pinkish grey; eyebrow whitish; below white (no markings on breast). Iris olive brown; bill fairly slender and short, grey, tip black; legs and feet grey.

Distribution
Near-endemic to Namibia's Namib Desert, which marginally extends into south-western Angola.

Habitat
It generally prefers open gravel plains with or sometimes without scattered small shrubs and grass; it avoids coastal dunes and sand desert.

Diet
It eats seeds, invertebrates and the soft bases of grass stems, plucking food items from the ground. It often forages around zebra and antelope droppings and around the entrances of rodent burrows.

Breeding
It is usually monogamous, although there have been 3 records of more than two birds feeding fledglings, suggesting that it is an occasional cooperative breeder. The nest is a thick-walled cup built of fine grass inflorescences, often from Stipagrostis species. It is typically placed in a shallow hole in the ground, often in the shadow of a rock, grass tuft or shrub. The eggs are usually laid after rainfall in them months from March-July. It lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated for 12-13 days; the incubating bird is well camouflaged against the grey-coloured gravel surrounding the nest. The chicks are fed invertebrates by both parents leaving the nest after roughly 10 days, before being able to fly.

Call
Callnotes high-pitched tseet and mellow tew between members of flock; sings mainly at night, high-pitched tinkling notes and loud up-slurred whistles; sings also in aerial display, alternating song phrases with bursts of reedy wing-whirring in undulating flight.

Status
Locally fairly common resident; somewhat nomadic in restricted range.

514. Gray'S Lark Chersomanes albofasciata (Vlaktelewerik)

© Michele Nel
Namibia, Swakopmund saltworks

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2