Indochinese Bushlark
Plocealauda erythrocephala
Short-tailed lark with a streaky brown back and inky black streaks on the chest. General coloration very similar to various other larks, but the shorter tail Indochinese Bushlark separates it from Australasian Bushlark and migrant or vagrant larks. Song is a series of clear cricket-like trills, given from the ground, a perch, or the air. Calls include similar trilling, as well as whistles. Inhabits open dry land such as fields and grasslands with small trees and bushes dotted around. Unlike skylarks, readily perches on trees and bushes.
Taxonomy
Following work a decade ago by Per Alström, the Indochinese bush lark was split from the Bengal Bush Lark to form a separate species.
- Scientific name
- Plocealauda erythrocephala
- Authority
- Salvadori & Giglioli, 1885
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Ploceidae
- Genus
- Plocealauda
Range and habitat
The range of the Indochinese bush lark extends over a large swath of southeast Asia, and can be found in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.<p>The Indochinese bush lark is found in a variety of open-space habitats up to 900 m interspersed with trees and shrubs and has adapted to cultivated land. It also exists at forest margins, as well as thickets of bamboo.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Barred Antthrush
Chamaeza mollissima
Compact brown bird with a stubby black bill. Warm reddish brown with heavy black-and-white barring on the undersides, face, and eyebrow. Walks around the ground in dense montane forest with a springy gait, bobbing its tail up and down with each slow step. Exceptionally timid bird heard far more often than seen; listen for its long hooting song, an accelerating series of low toots.
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Huge antshrike with a rather long tail and a strong, heavily hooked bill. Males are barred black and white above and gray below, with a black cap that can be erected. Females look similar, but are barred black and cinnamon above and buff below with a cinnamon cap. Usually seen in pairs in the dense understory and middle levels of humid forests mostly in and around bamboo patches.
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