- Calandrella raytal
Identification
Location: near to shore in Soorgalm creek
Identification
The Sand Lark, also known as India Short-toed Lark or Indian Sand Lark [3] (Calandrella raytal), is a small passerine bird in the lark (Alaudidae) family. Slightly smaller than the sparrow (ca. 13cm), the Sand Lark is greyish sandy, with dark brown streaks, from above, while the belly is white, sparsely and indistinctly dark-streaked on the sides. Supercilium and cheeks are white. Shortish black and white tail. Sexes alike.
Distribution
It is found east of Jammu, through Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal terai and plains, Bihar, northern West Bengal, Bhutan foothills, Brahmaputra valley in Assam, and in Bangladesh, extending into Myanmar along the rivers such as the lower Irrawady and Chindwin. Also Madhya Pradesh south to Hoshangabad and Mhow.
Taxonomy
Habitat
Behaviour
Keeps singly or in scattered twos or threes; in non-breeding season in small flocks of upto 20 or 30. Runs about feeding on bare sandy flats in the characteristic zigzag jerky spurts of the family. In breeding season, the male has a distinctive song flight. Soaring aloft about 30m it flies about with intermittent series of wing flaps and pauses while singing, finally shooting down vertically with closed wings and flattening out while a metre or so from the ground before alighting on a clod or stone. It eats weed, seeds and insects. Nesting Season: February to May. Nest: A cup like depression in the ground at the base of a shrub, lined with grass, hair, etc. Eggs: 3, sometimes 2. Yellowish or greyish white, freckled with brown. Both sexes share domestic chores.
