Singing Bush Lark
Mirafra javanica· 百灵科(2 photos)
Photographed In:
Singing Bush Lark
12.5-15 cm. Smaller, stockier than Common Skylark; tail shorter. Colour variable: sandy, reddish grey or blackish above; bold rufous margins to wing feathers form strong pattern; often has heavy blackish mottling on breast. Immature: finer scalloped pattern on upperparts. Singles, open flocks: runs nimbly, legs bent, or flutters, wings half-closed in shivery, jerky tail-down manner; rufous in wings, white edges to tail prominent. Perches on fences, telephone-lines over crops, grasslands.
- Other names
- Singing Bushlark; Australian Skylark; Croplark, Australasian Bushlark.
- Similar Species
- Eurasian Skylark, Australasian Pipit.
- Voice
- when disturbed, chirrups. Song: tinny, spasmodic; thinner, less melodious and throbbing than Common Skylark, but carries far. Sings while hovering high, in low undulating flight, or perched on stump, fence, or ground; mimics.
- Habitat
- tropical, temperate grasslands, with rank cover; open woodlands/scrublands; cereal crops, lucerne, sparse sugar cane.
- Breeding
- Sept.-Jan.
- Nest
- flimsily domed cup; in depression.
- Eggs
- 2-4; glossy; greyish stone to whitish; speckled, blotched pale grey, dark brown.
- Range & Status
- n. and e. Aust., w. to Eyre Pen. (SA), s. on w. coast to c. Shark Bay (WA). Summer breeding migrant in se. Aust., although many may overwinter, unnoticed because silent. Vagrant Tas. Uncommon; locally irruptive/abundant. Also PNG to Asia.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Mirafra javanica woodwardi 2. Mirafra javanica halli 3. Mirafra javanica forresti 4. Mirafra javanica melvillensis 5. Mirafra javanica soderbergi 6. Mirafra javanica rufescens 7. Mirafra javanica athertonensis 8. Mirafra javanica horsfieldii 9. Mirafra javanica secunda
