Stone lark
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Stone Lark ( Ammomanes deserti ), Israel |
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| Ammomanes deserti | ||||||||||||
| ( Lichtenstein , 1823) |
The stone lark ( Ammomanes deserti ), also called desert lark , is a species of lark that has been adapted to desert habitats . It is common in North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. The color of the plumage resembles the sandy ground on which the bird is excellently camouflaged . Several subspecies are distinguished.
features
The stone lark reaches a body length of 15 to 17 centimeters, of which 5.8 to 6.8 centimeters are on the tail. The beak length is 1.3 to 1.68 centimeters measured from the skull. They weigh between 21 and 26.6 grams. There is no noticeable gender dimorphism .
The plumage of the lark varies greatly, depending on the subspecies, but a typical feature is the low dashed plumage. The plumage color of the upper side of the body ranges from light sand-gray to pink-cinnamon to dark slate-gray in the subspecies Ammomanes desserti annae, which occurs in Jordan on the black lava desert . There are also differences in the individual subspecies of the beak. While the upper beak is dark horn-colored, the color of the lower bill ranges from light horn-yellow, whitish court jesters to gray flesh-colored.
The singing flight of the male is steeply ascending, but the male usually only reaches a height of six to twelve meters above the ground. Occasionally, however, the male also sings from waiting areas on the ground.
Way of life
The stone lark is a typical desert inhabitant. The soft plumage of this lark does not tolerate rain well. Larks surprised by the rain get so wet that they are almost unable to fly. When it rains in the rocky lark's habitat, rocky larks seek shelter under roof-shaped stones and in cracks in rock walls. As is typical for desert dwellers, the peak of activity of this lark is in the cooler morning and evening hours. The food consists of the seeds of various desert plants such as the whorled ground millet and various sorghum millets . It also eats insects.
Like all larks, the stone lark is a ground breeder. The stone lark usually builds its nest on a rock or in a tuft of grass. It is attached to the windward side with small stones.
In the arid interior of the deserts, females usually lay three eggs, and four to five in the outskirts of the desert. Only the female breeds. However, the young birds are fed and cared for by both parent birds. The nestlings are fed exclusively with animal food. The nestlings leave when they are nine to 10 days old or when they have a wing length of about 5.2 centimeters and are almost feathered on the belly.
Subspecies and their respective distribution area
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There are 22 subspecies:
- A. d. payni - Hartert , 1924 : South Morocco and Southwest Algeria
- A. d. algeriensis - Sharpe , 1890 : Northern Algeria, Tunisia, northwest Libya and northwest Chad. Upper side of the body dark grayish-cinnamon colored. Freshly walled plumage has a wine-reddish tinge.
- A. d. whitakeri - Hartert, 1911 : Occurrence from south-east Algeria to south-west Libya. Upper side of the body is dark gray-brown. The underside of the body is yellow-brown to brown with noticeably dark gray-brown stripes.
- A. d. mya - Hartert, 1912 : Distribution area is central Algeria. Compared to A. d. algeriensis is the top of the body sand-colored.
- A. d. geyri - Hartert, 1924 : Occurrence from Mauritania to the south of Algeria and the north-west of Niger. The top of the body of this subspecies is sand-colored gray-brown, the rump is pink-brown. The chin and throat are whitish, while the rest of the underside of the body is sandy-yellow-brown.
- A. d. Kollmannspergeri - Niethammer , 1955 : Occurrence from northeastern Chad to western Sudan. The underside of the body is reddish, the upper side is reddish-brown.
- A. d. deserti - ( Lichtenstein , 1823) : nominate form , occurrence from eastern Egypt to northern Sudan. The top of the body is dark gray-brown or brownish gray. Compared to the subspecies A. d. whitakeri , this subspecies is much smaller.
- A. d. erythrochroa - Reichenow , 1904 : Occurrence from the west of Chad to the central area of Sudan.
- A. d. isabellina - ( Temminck , 1823) : Originally described as an independent species in the genus Alauda , this subspecies occurs from northern Egypt to southern Turkey, in Syria and in the central area of the Arabian Peninsula and in the north and south-west of Iraq. Compared to the subspecies A. d. mya , this subspecies is lighter and more sand-colored brown.
- A. d. samharensis - Shelley , 1902 : Originally described as a separate species, this subspecies of the stone lark occurs in northeast Sudan, in Eritrea and in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. The top of the body is darker and more gray-brown. The underside of the body is sand-colored, money-brown.
- A. d. taimuri - Meyer de Schauensee & Ripley , 1953 : Occurrence from the north of Oman to the United Arab Emirates.
- A. d. assabensis - Salvadori , 1902 : Originally described as an independent species, this subspecies of the stone lark occurs in the south of Eritrea, in Ethiopia and the north-west of Somalia. The upper side of the body is dark smoke gray, the underside of the body is dark yellow-brown.
- A. d. akeleyi - Elliot, DG , 1897 : Originally described as a separate species, this subspecies of the stone lark occurs in northern Somalia. The top of the body is light sand-colored gray, the throat is whitish, the rest of the underside of the body is yellow-brown. The tail is brown, the outer tail feathers have sand-colored tips.
- A. d. azizi - Ticehurst & Cheesman , 1924 : Occurrence in the east and central area of the Arabian Peninsula.
- A. d. saturata - Ogilvie-Grant , 1900 : Originally described as an independent species, this subspecies of the stone lark occurs in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.
- A. d. insularis - Ripley, 1951 : Occurrence in Bahrain
- A. d. annae - Meinertzhagen, R , 1923 : Occurrence in southern Jordan and southern Syria. This subspecies is the darkest subspecies. In adaptation to the black lava desert of the distribution area, the upper side is dark slate-gray to dark soot-gray. The chin, chest and flanks are dark gray. There are white dots on the chin, and the throat and upper chest are even striped yellow-brown. The lower abdomen is dark cinnamon with a pink overlay.
- A. d. cheesmani - Meinertzhagen, R, 1923 : Occurrences in eastern Iraq and western Iran.
- A. d. parvirostris - Hartert, 1890 : Occurrence from the northeast of Iran to the west of Turkmenistan.
- A. d. orientalis - Zarudny & Loudon , 1904 : Occurrence in the northeast of Iran, in the north of Afghanistan, in the south of Turkmenistan and in the south of Tajikistan .
- A. d. iranica - Zarudny, 1911 : Occurrence from the south and east of Iran to the south of Afghanistan and the west of Pakistan.
- A. d. phoenicuroides - ( Blyth , 1853) : Originally described as an independent species of the genus Mirafra , this subspecies of the stone lark occurs in southeastern Afghanistan, in eastern Pakistan and in northwestern India.
literature
- Rudolf Pätzold: The larks of the world . Westarp Sciences, Magdeburg 1994, ISBN 3-89432-422-8 .
- Rudolf Pätzold: Compendium of Larks. All the larks on earth. Jan-Schimkat-Medienpublikation, Dresden 2003, ISBN 3-00-011219-7 .
Web links
- Ammomanes deserti in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed January 31 of 2009.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Ammomanes deserti in the Internet Bird Collection
- Feathers of the stone lark
Individual evidence
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 192.
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 177.
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 186.
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 179.
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 184.
- ↑ a b c Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 185.
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 183.
- ^ IOC World Bird List 6.4 . In: IOC World Bird List Datasets . August. doi : 10.14344 / ioc.ml.6.4 .