Hume's short-toed lark

Hume's short-toed lark (Calandrella acutirostris) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in south-central Asia from Iran and Kazakhstan to China.

Hume's short-toed lark
From Laxman chowk, close to Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary, Sikkim, India

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Genus: Calandrella
Species:
C. acutirostris
Binomial name
Calandrella acutirostris
Hume, 1873
Subspecies

See text

Taxonomy and systematics

The name commemorates the British naturalist Allan Octavian Hume who described the species.[2] The alternate name short-toed lark may also be used for three other species in the genus Calandrella. The alternate name lesser short-toed lark should not be confused with the species of the same name, Alaudala rufescens. Other alternate names for Hume's short-toed lark include Hume's lark and Karakoram short-toed lark.[3]

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized:[4]

  • C. a. acutirostris - Hume, 1873: Found from north-eastern Iran and eastern Kazakhstan to western China
  • Tibet short-toed lark (C. a. tibetana) - Brooks, WE, 1880: Originally described as a separate species. Found from north-eastern Pakistan to Tibetan Plateau

Description

Hume's short-toed lark is similar in size and appearance to the greater short-toed lark but is generally a duller-looking bird with slightly darker plumage and a slightly smaller beak. As with the greater short-toed lark, the colour varies across the broad range and is not a good distinguishing feature. Hume's short-toed lark grows to a length of from 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) and the sexes are similar. The crown is brown with slight diffuse streaking, the cheeks are rufous-brown and the supercilium white. The upper parts are greyish-brown or sandy brown with darker streaking, and the upper tail coverts are washed with rufous-brown. The wings are greyish-brown with black barring and pale tips to the feathers. The underparts are mostly whitish, but there is a dark neck patch and a buffish-grey breast band. The breast is unstreaked. The voice helps distinguish this species; vocalisations include a shrill "trree" and a more rolling "drreep".[5]

gollark: Consume 1.1.1.1 apioform.
gollark: I "fixed" it.
gollark: ... how many services have I not disabled properly
gollark: Um. What. The old IRC bridge?
gollark: Let's see if `kexec` works, since the BIOS on this server is awfully slow.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Calandrella acutirostris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 173–174.
  3. "Calandrella acutirostris - Avibase". avibase.bsc-eoc.org. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
  4. "IOC World Bird List 6.4". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4.
  5. Mark Beaman; Steve Madge (1998). The Handbook of Bird Identification: For Europe and the Western Palearctic. Christopher Helm. p. 547. ISBN 978-0-7136-3960-5.
Hume's Short-toed Lark(Calandrella acutirostris).Amravati, Maharashtra, India. Photographed by Mr.Ninad Abhang. Dec.2015
Hume's Short-toed Lark(Calandrella acutirostris). Akola, Maharashtra, India. Photographed by Mr.Ravi Dhongle, Feb.2016
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