Black-eared Sparrow-Lark
Eremopterix australis
A small, compact finch-like sociable lark that is nomadic, and often irrupts in large numbers after good rains. The sexes differ in plumage: the distinctive male is mostly black, including under the wings, with chestnut-sprinkled upperparts; the female is reddish-brown above and streaked underneath. Small to medium-sized flocks (often mixed with Gray-backed Sparrow-Lark) can appear in grassy shrubland in the Karoo and Kalahari, where dark males are conspicuous when they fly up on broad wings and flap slowly in the fashion of a butterfly. They drop to the ground and land on bare patches, where they shuffle along foraging for seeds and insects. The female Black-eared Sparrow-Lark is told apart from other female sparrow-larks by its all-dark underwings in flight and the lack of a black belly patch.
Taxonomy
Sometimes the name grey-backed sparrow-lark is used to describe this species, although more commonly it refers to a separate species (Eremopterix verticalis).
- Scientific name
- Eremopterix australis
- Authority
- (Smith, A, 1836)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Alaudidae
- Genus
- Eremopterix
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Nomadic movement
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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