Horned lark

Horned lark
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Genus: Eremophila
Species: E. alpestris
Binomial name
Eremophila alpestris
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies

see text

Distribution map of horned lark
yellow : breeding area
green : all-year area
blue : nonbreeding area
Synonyms
  • Chionophila alpestris
  • Otocorys alpestris

The horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), called the shore lark in Europe, is a species of lark in the Alaudidae family found across the northern hemisphere.

Taxonomy and systematics

The specific alpestris is Latin and means "of the high mountains", from Alpes, the Alps.[2]

The horned lark was originally classified in the genus Alauda. Recent genetic analysis has suggested that the species consists of six clades that in the future may warrant recognition as separate species.[3]

Subspecies

Forty-two subspecies are recognized:[4]

Description

A male at the North Carolina Zoo in Ashboro, North Carolina, US

Unlike most other larks, this is a distinctive-looking species on the ground, mainly brown-grey above and pale below, with a striking black and yellow face pattern. Except for the central feathers, the tail is mostly black, contrasting with the paler body; this contrast is especially noticeable when the bird is in flight. The summer male has black "horns", which give this species its American name. America has a number of races distinguished by the face pattern and back colour of males, especially in summer. The southern European mountain race E. a. penicillata is greyer above, and the yellow of the face pattern is replaced with white.

In British Columbia, Canada

Vocalizations are high-pitched, lisping or tinkling, and weak. The song, given in flight as is common among larks, consists of a few chips followed by a warbling, ascending trill.

Distribution and habitat

The horned lark breeds across much of North America from the high Arctic south to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, northernmost Europe and Asia and in the mountains of south-east Europe. There is also an isolated population on a plateau in Colombia. It is mainly resident in the south of its range, but northern populations of this passerine bird are migratory, moving further south in winter.

This is a bird of open ground. In Eurasia it breeds above the tree line in mountains and the far north. In most of Europe, it is most often seen on seashore flats in winter, leading to the European name. In the UK it can be found as a winter stopover along the coasts and in eastern England, although a mated pair have been recently spotted in Windmill End nature reserve in the West Midlands. In North America, where there are no other larks to compete with, it is also found on farmland, on prairies, in deserts, on golf courses and airports.

Behaviour and ecology

A nest with three chicks in the oil fields of Alberta, Canada

The nest is on the ground, with two to five eggs being laid. Food is seeds supplemented with insects in the breeding season. The nest may be near corn or soybeans for a source of food, and the female chooses the site.

Status and conservation

In the open areas of western North America, horned larks are among the bird species most often killed by wind turbines.[5] In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the subspecies streaked horned lark as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.[6]

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Eremophila alpestris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 42, 148. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ↑ Drovetski, Sergei V.; Raković, Marko; Semenov, Georgy; Fadeev, Igor V.; Red'kin, Yaroslav A. (2014-01-01). "Limited phylogeographic signal in sex-linked and autosomal loci despite geographically, ecologically, and phenotypically concordant structure of mtDNA variation in the Holarctic avian genus Eremophila". PloS One. 9 (1): e87570. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3907499 Freely accessible. PMID 24498139. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087570.
  4. ↑ "IOC World Bird List 6.4". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4.
  5. ↑ Erickson, W.P., G. D. Johnson, D. P. Young, Jr., M. D. Strickland, R.E. Good, M.Bourassa, K. Bay. 2002. Synthesis and Comparison of Baseline Avian and Bat Use, Raptor Nesting and Mortality Information from Proposed and Existing Wind Developments. Technical Report prepared for Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, Oregon. http://www.bpa.gov/Power/pgc/wind/Avian_and_Bat_Study_12-2002.pdf
  6. ↑ "Species Fact Sheet: Streaked horned lark". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2014-08-05. Retrieved 2014-08-19.

Further reading

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