- Melanocorypha yeltoniensis
Identification
18-20.5 cm
Male
- All black
- Some pale feather fringes on the back
- Yellowish or pink bill
Female
- Mainly dark-blotched grey upperparts
- Paler underparts
- Black underwing
- Black legs
Distribution
Mainly Central Asian species with Western Palearctic breeding range confined to the far east of the Region. Occurs in the northern Caspian Depression, Kazakhstan and north to the southern Urals.
Winters south-west to the northern shores of the Black Sea and the northern Caucasus. Present all year in parts of breeding range and dispersive rather than truly migratory.
Vagrants recorded in Norway, Sweden and Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic with older records from Germany and Austria, Italy, Malta, Greece and Romania, also Lebanon and Eilat, Israel.
The formerly accepted British records are now deleted but as the species was recorded for the first time in Sweden in May 1993 future British records seemed likely and in June 2003 one was recorded on Anglesey in Wales.
Taxonomy
Monotypic[1]
Habitat
Dry grass steppe and Artemisia steppe, often close to water and usually in wetter areas than White-winged Lark.
Behaviour
Breeding
The 4 or 5 eggs are laid in a ground nest.
Diet
The diet includes seeds and insect.
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black Lark. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black_Lark
External Links
Use Melanocorypha yeltoniensis to
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