Red-winged Lark
Corypha hypermetra
A large lark with a long, strong bill and a long tail. Back is scaly-looking and underparts pale, with a black mark on the side of the breast. The wings show rufous in flight. Found very locally in dry and open savanna. Most similar to Rufous-naped Lark, but hardly overlaps in range, and separated by its larger size and the black mark on the side of the breast. The song is a variable but repetitive mix of whistled notes and imitations of other species, usually given from the top of a bush, but sometimes in flight.
Identification
It is a larger version of the rufous-naped lark, with a more robust bill and longer tail, but their morphological and vocal features do not intergrade where they occur together.
Taxonomy
The red-winged lark is taken to form a species complex with the allopatric rufous-naped lark, and perhaps with the Somali lark. The name "red-winged lark" is sometimes used as an alternate name for the Indian bush lark. The alternate names red-winged bush lark and rufous-winged bush lark may also be used to describe the Indian bush lark or the Bengal bush lark respectively.<p>Four subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Corypha hypermetra
- Authority
- (Reichenow, 1879)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Alaudidae
- Genus
- Corypha
Range and habitat
It has a patchy but quite extensive range in equatorial eastern Africa. It occurs within Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, and its estimated global extent of occurrence is 660,000 km2. Its total population has yet to be quantified, but is believed to be large.<p>Its natural habitat is savanna in tropical to subtropical dry, open, lowland.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Cape Starling
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Timor Boobook
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Brown owl with bright yellow eyes, densely-marked pale underparts, and white-spotted wings. Found only on Timor, where, aside from the very different Barn Owl, it is the only owl; migratory Northern Boobook could turn up on Timor, but has an entirely dark brown back. Inhabits wooded areas in the lowlands and foothills of the island. Gives a somewhat slurred, bouncy-sounding “woop-woop!”, as well as a smoother, deeper “dwoop-a-woop!”. Formerly regarded as a subspecies of Southern Boobook.
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