Gillett's lark (''Calendulauda gilletti'') or Gillett's bushlark is a species of

lark Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occ ...

in the family

Alaudidae Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occ ...

found in eastern Africa.

Taxonomy

Gillett's lark was formerly placed in the genus ''

Mirafra ''Mirafra'' is a genus of lark in the family Alaudidae. Some ''Mirafra'' species are called "larks", while others are called "bush larks". They are all found in Africa except for the singing bush lark that is found through South Asia to Australi ...

''. It was moved to ''

Calendulauda ''Calendulauda'' is a genus of lark in the family Alaudidae. Established by Edward Blyth in 1855, it contains eight species. Taxonomy and systematics The genus ''Calendulauda'' was introduced by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1855 with th ...

'' based on its vocalizations and plumage combined with the results of a large molecular genetic study of the

Per Alström ''Per'' Johan Alström (born 9 April 1961) is a Swedish Professor of ornithology. He does research in Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, systematics, and evolution, with birds in Asia as a specialty. Alström works at the Department of Ecology and Genet ...

and collaborators that was published in 2023. Three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''C. g. gilletti'' ( Sharpe, 1895) – east Ethiopia and northwest Somalia (Degodi lark) * ''C. g. degodiensis'' (Érard, 1976) – southeast Ethiopia * ''C. g. arorihensis'' (Érard, 1976) – central Somalia to northeast Kenya

Distribution and habitat

Gillett's lark has a somewhat wide

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of over Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are dry

savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and

subtropical or tropical dry shrubland Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...

References

* Gillett's lark Birds of the Horn of Africa Gillett's lark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Alaudidae-stub