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Some larks have heavy bills (reaching an extreme in the thick-billed lark) for cracking seeds open, while others have long, down-curved bills, which are especially suitable for digging. [14] Larks are the only passerines that lose all their feathers in their first moult (in all species whose first moult is known). This may result from the poor ...
A fairly small lark, the crested lark is roughly the same size as a Eurasian skylark, but shorter overall and bulkier around the head and body, and very similar in appearance, [7] with a height of 17 cm (6.7 in) and a wingspan of 29 to 38 cm (11 to 15 in), weighing between 37 and 55 g (1.3 and 1.9 oz). [8]
The singing bush lark was formally described in 1821 by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield from a specimen collected on the island of Java. He placed the lark in the genus Mirafra and coined the binomial name Mirafra javanica. [2] [3] The singing bush lark is one of 100 species of larks of the rather large and fairly diverse family ...
The genus name is from the Latin alauda, "lark". Pliny thought the word was originally of Celtic origin. The specific arvensis is also Latin, and means "of the field". [4] The results of a molecular phylogenetic study of the lark family Alaudidae published in 2013 suggested that Eurasian skylark is most closely related to the Oriental skylark ...
These birds forage on the ground or in low vegetation, sometimes probing with the bill. They mainly eat arthropods, but also seeds and berries. In winter, they often feed in flocks. About three-quarters of the eastern meadowlark's diet is from animal sources like beetles, grasshoppers, and crickets. They also eat grain and seeds. [19]
The Mongolian short-toed lark was formerly considered as a subspecies of the greater short-toed lark (as C. b. dukhunensis) until split in 2016 by the IOC. [6] Formerly, some authorities also considered the red-capped lark to be either conspecific (as C. cinerea) with or a subspecies (as C. b. cinerea) of the greater short-toed lark. [7]
Female in Melbourne. The female has a white throat and the male has a black throat. The magpie-lark is a small to medium size bird, reaching 25 to 30 cm (9.8 to 11.8 in) long when fully grown, or about the same size as a European common blackbird, and boldly pied in black and white; the weight range is 63.9 to 118 g (2.25 to 4.16 oz) for males, and 70 to 94.5 g (2.47 to 3.33 oz) for females. [15]
The desert lark is a medium-sized, big-headed and long-billed lark, growing to a length of 16 to 17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 in). The sexes are alike, but there is considerable geographical variation. It has a rather dull plumage which can vary from quite pale to rather dark.