Dupont's Lark
Chersophilus duponti
The same size as Eurasian Skylark, with a longer and more slender down-curved bill and small head. Cryptically-plumaged upperparts with pale feather edges, a heavily streaked breast, and a white belly. North African race paler still than Iberian birds. Found in natural steppes and semi-deserts, walking with its head up, looking tall. Fiendishly hard to see. Prefers to run when disturbed rather than fly. Melancholic song delivered high in the sky at dusk and dawn.
Identification
Like most other larks, Dupont's lark is an undistinguished looking species on the ground. It is 17–18 cm long, slim, with a long neck, long legs and a fine slightly curved bill. It has a thin pale crown stripe and a dark-streaked breast. The north-western Dupont's lark of Europe and north-west Africa is mainly brown-grey above and pale below. The south-eastern Dupont's lark, which occupies most of the rest of the African range, has rufous upperparts.<p>Its song is a repeated thin, melancholic whistling phrase, very ventriloquial (difficult to locate) and a nasal whistle given mainly at dawn and dusk or at night.
Taxonomy
Dupont's lark was originally described by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1820 and placed in the genus Alauda. It was named for the French naturalist Léonard Puech Dupont, who had collected the species and showed it to Vieillot.<p>Two subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Chersophilus duponti
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1824)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Alaudidae
- Genus
- Chersophilus
Range and habitat
It breeds across much of northern Africa, from Algeria to Egypt, and in Spain and France. It is a non-migratory resident. It is a species that commonly inhabits chaparral areas. However, it experiences a 3.9% annual population decrease in Spain with a 32.8% decrease from 2008 to 2018, shifting its conservation status to vulnerable on the national level and endangered in the regions of Andalusia and Castile-León.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
This is a very shy species, which runs for cover when disturbed. It is difficult to see while running among vegetation but it sometimes sings, standing upright on the edge of a low bush.<p>This is a bird of open sandy semi-desert or steppe with some grass. Its nest is on the ground, with three or four eggs being laid. Its food is seeds and insects.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Black-bellied Sunbird
Cinnyris nectarinioides
A slim, long-billed sunbird in which breeding males and females are very different. Breeding males are mostly dark iridescent green with a red band across the underparts. The red band is bordered by narrow yellow stripes in the southern part of the range. Females are plain, with gray-brown upperparts and pale underparts with dark streaking. Found in dry thorn savanna. Similar to Beautiful Sunbird, but breeding males are separated by the less extensive or absent yellow in their belly band, and females by being more streaked below. The common calls are quiet chips and “tip” notes, and the song is a high-pitched jumble typical of sunbirds.
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Aegolius acadicus
Pint-sized owl of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; found in northern forests and western mountains. Prefers areas with conifers and thick understory. Fairly common, but shy and difficult to see. Patterned with brown and white overall, with streaked white forehead and blotchy rusty-brown streaks below. No ear tufts. Migratory, but numbers of migrants fluctuate greatly from year to year. Named for its loud, repetitive whistles that sound like a saw being whetted (sharpened). Also gives a harsher, rising screech. Most similar to less common Boreal Owl. Saw-whet is smaller with streaks (not spots) on forehead and richer orange-brown streaks on underparts.
Laurel Pigeon
Columba junoniae
A Canary Island endemic found on rocky mountain slopes around the tree heath and laurel forest zone. Looks very dark, especially at a distance, with dark grey-purple wings, deep maroon underparts, and a tail with prominent pale tip unlike the co-occurring Bolle’s Pigeon. Also note red eyes and a prominent iridescent green patch on the neck. Gives a series of very low coos, sometimes doubled: “hoo-hoOOOOoooh-hoo-hoOOOOooh.”
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