Alternative name: Rusty Bushlark
- Mirafra rufa
Identification
13-15 cm. A medium-sized to small lark.
- Narrow buff supercilium
- Dark-streaked rufous ear-coverts
- Rufous crown and upperparts, streaked black and buff
- Blackish tail with rufous central feather pair
- Buffy underparts with slightly paler throat and darker brown and rufous streaked and mottled breast
- Bill blackish-horn above, whitish lower mandible
- lynesi with almost plain upperparts
- nigriticola has darker upperparts, is richer buff below and heavier streaked on the breast
Sexes similar, juveniles are paler above and more streaked.
Similar species
Has a longer tail without wide sides compared with other larks in the range. Has a paler upperside and buff (and not rufous) underparts than similar Flappet Lark.
Distribution
Africa, in savanna at the southern edge of the Sahara from Mali to Sudan.
A poorly known species, locally common but mostly scarce in its range.
Taxonomy
Three subspecies recognized:
- M. r. nigriticola from eastern Mali to northern Togo and Niger
- M. r. rufa from Chad to western Sudan (Darfur)
- M. r. lynesi in central Sudan (Kordofan)
Habitat
Dry savanna and open woodland on rocky ridges.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on insects and seeds.
Forages singly or in pairs on the ground.
Breeding
Not much known. Display seen from May to July, also in September in Chad. The male performs a display flight, drooping steeply to the ground or treetop perch. No information about nest and eggs.
Movements
Rain-related movements recorded.
Reference
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2014. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.9., with updates to August 2014. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2015. IOC World Bird Names (version 5.2). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2015)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Rusty Lark. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Rusty_Lark
