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White-tailed Lark - BirdForum Opus


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Mirafra albicauda

Identification

Similar species

Melodious Lark is generally more warmly colored but worn birds might be indistinguishable.

Distribution

Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species[1].

Habitat

Lightly bushed, scrubby grasslands and more open grasslands.

Behaviour

Difficult to see except when singing. Song is most frequently given in flight with less frequent singing from a perch. Song flights usually are about 15 minutes, circling around a very large territory during that period, and so high that it is frequently not visible to the naked eye.

Vocalisation

Well-defined strophes that are separated by silent pauses of rather regular length, with the pauses almost as long on average as the strophes. Each strophe contains scratchy notes and some additionally contains softer tones. Notes occur with a speed that gives the song a chattering character. There is no mimicry reported.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2022. IOC World Bird List (v 12.2) DRAFT. Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.12.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
  3. Finch et al. 2022: Disjunct resident population of Melodious Lark Mirafra cheniana discovered in East Africa

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

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