greater short-toed lark

The greater short-toed lark was described by the German naturalist Johann Leisler in 1814 and given the binomial name Alauda brachydactila.{{ cite journal | last=Leisler | first=Johann Philipp Achilles | author-link=Johann Philipp Achilles Leisler | year=1814 | title=Die kurzzehige Lerche Alauda brachydactila | language=de | journal=Annalen der Wetterauischen Gesellschaft für die Gesammte Naturkunde zu Hanau | volume=3 | page=357, plate 19 | url=https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN624810615_0003?tify={%22pages%22:[387],%22view%22:%22info%22} }} This lark is now placed in the genus Calandrella that was established by another German naturalist, Johann Jakob Kaup, in 1829.{{ cite book | last=Kaup | first=Johann Jakob | author-link=Johann Jakob Kaup | year=1829 | title=Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und natürliches System der europäischen Thierwelt | language=de | place=Darmstadt | publisher=Carl Wilhelm Leske | page=39 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41576424 }} The specific name brachydactyla is from the Ancient Greek βραχυδακτυλος brakhudaktulos "short-toed" from brakhus "short" and daktulos "toe".{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title=Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url=https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/brachydactyla-brachydactylus | access-date=21 July 2018 }} 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 of the greater short-toed lark (as C. b. dukhunensis) until split in 2016 by the IOC.{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/updates/species-updates/|title=Species Updates « IOC World Bird List|website=www.worldbirdnames.org|access-date=12 December 2016}} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=FCDA4F09&sec=summary&ssver=1|title=Calandrella cinerea - Avibase|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org|access-date=12 December 2016}}

Eight subspecies are recognized:{{Cite journal|title=IOC World Bird List 6.4|url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/ioc-lists/crossref|journal=IOC World Bird List Datasets|doi=10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4|doi-access=free}}

• 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 ([https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28500759 Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864], p.434), 3 adult males and a juvenile, are held in the vertebrate zoology collection of National Museums Liverpool 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, Lebanon in June 1864 by Canon Henry Baker Tristram. The specimens came to the Liverpool national collection through the purchase of Tristram's collection by the museum in 1896.{{Cite book|last=R. Wagstaffe|url=http://archive.org/details/type-specimens-of-birds-in-the-merseyside-county-museums-wagstaffe|title=Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums (formerly City of Liverpool Museums)|date=1978-12-01}}

• 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 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

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, 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.{{cite book|author1=Rasmussen, PC |author2=JC Anderton|year=2005|title=Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. |publisher=Smithsonian Institution & Lynx edicions.|volume=2|page=303}} In winter they fly in large and compact flocks that swing in synchrony.{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/popularhandbooko033226mbp/page/n303 256]|author-link=Hugh Whistler|author=Whistler, Hugh|year=1949|title=Popular Handbook of Indian Birds|edition=4th|publisher=Gurney and Jackson, London|url=https://archive.org/details/popularhandbooko033226mbp}} 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{{cite journal|author1=Dickinson, E.C.|author2=R.W.R.J. Dekker|title=Systematic notes on Asian birds. 11. A preliminary review of the Alaudidae.|journal=Zool. Verh. Leiden|volume=335|year=2001|pages=61–84|url=http://www.naturalis.nl/sites/naturalis.en/contents/i000308/snab011.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025005253/http://www.naturalis.nl//sites/naturalis.en/contents/i000308/snab011.pdf|archive-date=25 October 2007}}) 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.{{cite book|author1=Ali, S |author2=S D Ripley| title=Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan|edition=2nd|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume= 5|year= 1986|pages =19–22 }}

All but some southernmost populations are migratory, wintering south to the southern edge of the Sahara and India. This species is a fairly common wanderer to northern and western Europe in spring and autumn.{{cite journal|author=Tomek, T.|author2=Bocheński, Z.|name-list-style=amp|year=2005|title= Weichselian and Holocene bird remains from Komarowa Cave, Central Poland. |journal=Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia|volume=48A|issue=1–2|pages=43–65|url=http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/azc_v/pdf/48A%281-2%29/05.pdf|doi=10.3409/173491505783995743}} 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.{{cite journal|journal=Ardeola |volume=49|issue=2|year= 2002|pages=259–272|title=Habitat use of two sibling species, the Short-toed Calandrella brachydactyla and the Lesser Short-toed C. rufescens Larks in mainland Spain|url=http://www.ardeola.org/files/ardeola_505.pdf|author1=Suarez, Francisco |author2=Vincente Garza |author3=Manuel B Morales }}

This is a common bird of dry open country and cultivation. It nests on the ground, laying two to three eggs. Its food is seeds 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.{{cite journal|author=Mahesh, SS|year=2009|title=Management of Greater Short-toed Larks Calandrella brachydactyla in Indian aerodromes. |journal=Indian Birds|volume=5|issue=1|pages=2–6}}

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.{{Cite web |last=BirdLife International |title=Greater Short-toed Lark (Calandrella brachydactyla) |url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/greater-short-toed-lark-calandrella-brachydactyla/text |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=BirdLife International datazone}}

The breeding population in Europe is estimated to number 9,460,000-18,100,000 mature individuals.{{Cite book |title=European red list of birds |date=2015 |publisher=European Commission |isbn=978-92-79-47450-7 |editor-last=European Commission |location=Brussels |editor-last2=BirdLife International}}

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

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{{Wikispecies|Calandrella brachydactyla}}

• [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/greater-short-toed-lark-calandrella-brachydactyla? Videos, photos and sounds] - Internet Bird Collection
• [http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/297_ShortToedLarkCbrachydactyla.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.9 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150718123818/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/297_ShortToedLarkCbrachydactyla.pdf |date=18 July 2015 }}

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greater short-toed lark

Category:Birds of Southern Europe

Category:Birds of West Asia

Category:Birds of Central Asia

Category:Birds of North Africa

Category:Birds of Africa

greater short-toed lark

greater short-toed lark