Thekla's lark (''Galerida theklae''), also known as the Thekla lark, 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 ...

that breeds on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, in northern Africa, and

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

from Senegal to Somalia. It is a sedentary ( non-migratory) species. This is a common bird of dry open country, often at some altitude. Thekla's lark was named by Alfred Edmund Brehm in 1857 for his recently deceased sister Thekla Brehm (1833–1857). The name is a modern Greek one, Θέκλα ( Thekla), which comes from ancient Greek Θεόκλεια (Theokleia) derived from θεός (

theos THEOS, which translates from Greek as "God", is an operating system which started out as OASIS, a microcomputer operating system for small computers that use the Zilog Z80, Z80 processor. When the operating system was launched for the IBM Per ...

, "god") and κλέος (kleos, "glory" or "honour"). The population is declining in Spain, but this is a common bird with a very wide range and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has rated its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

Taxonomy and systematics

Thekla's lark has several East African subspecies that show deep genetic divergence both among themselves and from the Mediterranean populations and are consequently strong candidates for consideration as separate species. Formerly, some authorities considered Thekla's lark and the Malabar lark to be

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 ...

. Alternate names for Thekla's lark include short-crested lark and Thekla crested-lark.

Subspecies

Twelve

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 recognized: * ''G. t. theklae'' - Brehm, AE, 1857: Also known as Iberian Thekla's lark. Found in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, Spain,

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

and extreme

southern France Southern France, also known as the south of France or colloquially in French as , is a geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', Atlas e ...

* North Moroccan Thekla's lark (''G. t. erlangeri'') - Hartert, 1904: Found in northern

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

* Central Moroccan Thekla's lark (''G. t. ruficolor'') - Whitaker, 1898: Found in central and north-eastern Morocco, northern

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and northern

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

* ''G. t. theresae'' - Meinertzhagen, R, 1939: Found in south-western Morocco and

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

* Hauts Plateaux Thekla's lark (''G. t. superflua'') - Hartert, 1897: Found in eastern Morocco, northern Algeria and eastern Tunisia * North African Thekla's lark (''G. t. carolinae'') - Erlanger, 1897: Found in eastern Morocco through the northern

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 ...

to north-western

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

* ''G. t. harrarensis'' - Érard & Jarry, 1973: Found in eastern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

* ''G. t. huei'' - Érard & Naurois, 1973: Found in south-central Ethiopia * Abyssinian Thekla's lark (''G. t. praetermissa'') - ( Blanford, 1869): Found in southern

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

to central Ethiopia * Somali Thekla's lark (''G. t. ellioti'') - Hartert, 1897: Originally described as a separate species. Found in northern and central Somalia * ''G. t. mallablensis'' - Colston, 1982: Found in southern Somalia * ''G. t. huriensis'' - Benson, 1947: Found in southern Ethiopia and northern

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Thekla's lark (Galerida theklae theklae) Loja.jpg, ''G. t. theklae''
in hills near Loja, Granada, Spain Thekla lark (Galerida theklae ruficolor).jpg, ''G. t. ruficolor''

Souss-Massa National Park The Souss-Massa National Park (''Parc National de Souss-Massa'') is a 33,800 hectare national park on the Atlantic coast of Morocco which was created in 1991. It lies between Agadir to the north and Sidi Ifni to the south. The estuary of the ...

, Morocco

Description

This is a smallish

, slightly smaller than the Eurasian skylark. It has a long, spiky, erectile crest. It is greyer than the Eurasian skylark, and lacks the white wing and tail edge of that species. It is very similar to the widespread

crested lark The crested lark (''Galerida cristata'') is a species of lark widespread across Eurasia and North Africa, northern Africa. It is a non-migratory bird, but can occasionally be found as a Vagrancy (biology), vagrant in Great Britain. Taxonomy and ...

. It is smaller and somewhat greyer than that species, and has a shorter bill. In flight, it shows grey underwings, whereas the crested lark has reddish underwings. The body is mainly dark-streaked grey above and whitish below. The sexes are similar.

Distribution and habitat

Thekla's lark is native and resident in France, Spain, Portugal, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, Morocco, Somalia, Tunisia and

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

. Its typical habitat is rugged areas with scrub, bare patches of ground and semi-arid grassland.

Behaviour and ecology

It nests on the ground, laying two to six eggs. Its food is weed, seeds and insects, the latter especially in the breeding season. The song is melodious and varied, with mournful whistles and mimicry included. It is softer and more tuneful than that of the crested lark, and may be sung during flight or from the ground or an exposed perch.

References

External links

Videos, photos and sounds
– Internet Bird Collection
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.3 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze

Distinguishing characters between Thekla lark and crested lark (PDF; 1.7 MB)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q851570 Thekla lark Birds of North Africa Birds of East Africa Thekla lark Thekla lark