The greater short-toed lark (''Calandrella brachydactyla'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird. The current scientific name is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

. The genus name, ''Calandrella'', is a diminutive of ''kalandros'', the calandra lark, and ''brachydactila'' is from ''brakhus'', "short", and ''daktulos'', "toe". It breeds in southern Europe, north-west Africa, and across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

from Turkey and southern Russia to Mongolia. During migration they form large, tight flocks that move in unison; at other times they form loose flocks.

Taxonomy and systematics

The greater short-toed lark was described by the German naturalist Johann Leisler in 1814 and given the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Alauda brachydactila''. This lark is now placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

'' Calandrella'' that was established by another German naturalist,

Johann Jakob Kaup Johann Jakob von Kaup (10 April 1803 – 4 July 1873) was a German naturalist. A proponent of natural philosophy, he believed in an innate mathematical order in nature and he attempted biological classifications based on the Quinarian system. Kaup ...

, in 1829. The specific name ''brachydactyla'' is from the

βραχυδακτυλος ''brakhudaktulos'' "short-toed" from ''brakhus'' "short" and ''daktulos'' "toe". The alternate name short-toed lark may also be used for three other species in the genus ''Calandrella''. The Mongolian short-toed lark was formerly considered as a

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 ...

of the greater short-toed lark (as ''C. b. dukhunensis'') until split in 2016 by the IOC. Formerly, some authorities also considered the red-capped lark to be either

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

(as ''C. cinerea'') with or a subspecies (as ''C. b. cinerea'') of the greater short-toed lark.

Subspecies

Eight

are recognized: * European greater short-toed lark (''C. b. brachydactyla'') or Palestine short-toed lark - ( Leisler, 1814): Found in southern Europe, on Mediterranean islands and in north-western Africa. * Hungarian greater short-toed lark (''C. b. hungarica'') - Horváth, 1956: Found in Hungary and northern Serbia * North African greater short-toed lark (''C. b. rubiginosa'') - Fromholz, 1913: Found in northern Africa * Levant greater short-toed lark (''C. b. hermonensis'') - Tristram, 1865: Originally described as a separate species. Found from southern Turkey and Syria to north-eastern Egypt. The syntypes of ''Calandrella hermonensis'' Tristram
Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864
p.434), 3 adult males and a juvenile, are held in the vertebrate zoology collection of

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool in Merseyside, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The mu ...

at World Museum, with accession numbers NML-VZ T15738, NML-VZ T17770, NML-VZ T17771 and NML-VZ T17773. The specimens were collected at the foot of

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( / ALA-LC: ('Mountain of the Sheikh', ), , ) is a mountain, mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the Lebanon–Syria border, border between Syria and Lebanon a ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

in June 1864 by Canon

Henry Baker Tristram Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist. As a parson-naturalist he was an early, but short-lived, supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution an ...

. The specimens came to the Liverpool national collection through the purchase of Tristram's collection by the museum in 1896. * BIrelandcik greater short-toed lark (''C. b. woltersi'') - Kumerloeve, 1969: Found in southern Turkey and north-western Syria * Transcaucasian greater short-toed lark (''C. b. artemisiana'') - Banjkovski, 1913: Found from central Turkey and

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and West Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Armenia, ...

to north-western Iran * Steppe greater short-toed lark (''C. b. longipennis'') - ( Eversmann, 1848): Originally described as a separate species in the genus '' Alauda''. Also known as Eastern short-toed lark (a name also used by the Asian short-toed lark) or Yarkand short-toed lark. Found from Ukraine and southern Russia to south-central Siberia and southern Mongolia * ''C. b. orientalis'' - Sushkin, 1925: Found in central Siberia, northern Mongolia and northern China

Description

Several subspecies have been named but there is considerable geneflow and the species itself forms part of a larger complex. This is a small pale

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 ...

, smaller than the skylark. It is dark-streaked greyish-brown above, and white below, and has a strong pointed bill that is pinkish with a grey culmen. It has a pale supercilium, dark patches on each side of its neck and a dark tail. Some birds in the west of the range have a rufous crown. The sexes are similar. The greater short-toed lark is paler than the Mongolian short-toed lark which also has a shorter bill. In winter they fly in large and compact flocks that swing in synchrony. Care must be taken to distinguish this species from other similar ''Calandrella'' larks, such as the Mediterranean short-toed lark. The nominate form breeds in Europe (Iberia, France, Italy, the Balkans and Romania) and winters in Africa. Subspecies ''hungarica'' breeds in the eastern parts of Europe while ''rubiginosa'' breeds in north-western Africa. Subspecies ''hermonensis'' (sometimes including ''woltersi'') breeds in Turkey, Syria and Egypt. Subspecies ''artemisiana'' (considered by some to be synonymous with ''longipennis'') breeds in Asia Minor and winters in southern west Asia. Subspecies ''longipennis'' breeds in Ukraine, Mongolia and Manchuria and winters in South Asia mainly in the drier zone of north-western India. The song varies between a dry twittering and a more varied and imitative melody. Flocks will often fly together to water in the mornings at favourite spots. In the evenings they roost in open ground, with each bird squatting in a small depression made in the soil.

Distribution and habitat

All but some southernmost populations are migratory, wintering south to the southern edge of the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. This species is a fairly common wanderer to northern and western Europe in spring and autumn. Populations breeding in the Iberian Peninsula winter south of the Sahara in Africa. Here they prefer crop land and dry pastures with short shrubs while the syntopic Mediterranean short-toed larks (''Calandrella rufescens'') prefer drier areas. This is a common bird of dry open country and cultivation. It nests on the ground, laying two to three eggs. Its food is

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s and insects, the latter especially in the breeding season. In colonial India, they were hunted for food as ortolans. They visit parts of South Asia in large flocks during winter and are sometimes attracted to short grass areas along aerodromes and become a bird strike risk to aircraft.

Status

This species is classified as Least Concern due to its extensive range and large population size. Although the population trend appears to be decreasing, the rate of decline is not considered sufficiently rapid to warrant a threatened status. The breeding population in Europe is estimated to number 9,460,000-18,100,000 mature individuals.

Gallery

Calandrella brachydactyla MHNT.jpg, Eggs of '' Calandrella brachydactyla '' - MHNT Greater Short-toed Lark.jpg, Greater Short-toed Lark Greater short-toed lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) rescued Malta.jpg, after rescue by BirdLife Malta

References

External links

Videos, photos and sounds
- Internet Bird Collection
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.9 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
{{Taxonbar, from=Q24843 greater short-toed lark Birds of Southern Europe Birds of West Asia Birds of Central Asia Birds of North Africa Birds of Africa greater short-toed lark greater short-toed lark