Angola Lark
| Angola Lark | ||||||||||||
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Angola Lark |
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| Mirafra angolensis | ||||||||||||
| Barboza du Bocage , 1880 |
The Angola Lark ( Mirafra angolensis ) is a species from the lark family. Their distribution area is in southeastern Africa. It is a compactly built, long-legged lark, which is reminiscent of a crested lark in its habitus . There are three different subspecies.
The stock situation of the Angola Lark is classified as safe ( least concern ).
features
The Angola Lark reaches a body length of 17 to 18 centimeters, of which 4.6 to 5.8 centimeters are on the tail. The beak is 1.75 to 2.1 centimeters in length in the male and 1.6 to 2 centimeters in length in the female. Males weigh between 35 and 42 grams, the females weigh between 30 and 36.5 grams. Apart from the size difference, there is no noticeable gender dimorphism .
Angola larks have a reddish brown crown, nape and back neck. The top of the body is also reddish brown and has broad dark stripes. The upper tail covers are cinnamon colored. The face is light yellow-brown, the chin and throat are whitish. The chest and upper half of the abdomen are isabel colored. There are fine dark brown lines on the chest. The lower half of the abdomen and the under tail coverts are light isabel in color. The hand and arm wings are brown with reddish feather edges. The outermost control spring is white to cream-colored, the control spring next to it has a white outer flag. The other control feathers are brown with reddish borders. The upper beak is dark horn-colored, the lower beak a little lighter. The iris is maroon.
singing
The male climbs about 25 meters steeply to the flight song and then lets himself fall down steeply to the earth again with raised wings, whereby he catches himself again close to the ground. During the singing flight it emits a series of clear trills. Angola larks also let their song be heard from the ground. After the floor singing, it rises about five meters and then falls back to the floor with purring instrumental sounds that it generates with the wings.
Possible confusion
Both the red-necked lark and the tree rattle lark occur in the range of the Angola lark . It is very similar to the red-necked lark. The Angola Lark, however, is darker on the upper side of the body and has a greater proportion of white on the two outer tail feathers. In the smaller tree rattle lark, there is no white component in the tail feathers.
Distribution area and habitat
The Angola Lark is found in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Zambia.
The habitat of the Angola Lark is open grassland with low bushes and termite mounds. It occurs from the lowlands to the mountains. It is often found on freshly burned grasslands.
Way of life
Angola larks eat insects and seeds. The breeding season of the Angola Lark is from September to January. Like all larks, it is a ground breeder. The nest is built from dry grass under the protection of a tuft of grass. The clutch consists of three eggs. These are cream-colored and have large brown spots and scribbles.
Subspecies
There are 3 different subspecies:
- M. a. marungensis - Hall, BP , 1958 : Southwest Tanzania and Southeast Democratic Republic account. Is slightly more contrasting in color than the nominate form and has more red tones in the plumage.
- M. a. angolensis - Barboza du Bocage , 1880 : Angola, nominate form described above
- M. a. antonii - Hall, BP, 1958 : From eastern Angola to the south of the Account Democratic Republic and north-west of Zambia. Also darker than the nominate shape. It is slightly more striped on the chest, the outer tail feathers are not completely white, but have narrow dark edges.
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
Single receipts
- ↑ a b Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 81.
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 79.
- ↑ a b Pätzold: The larks of the world . P. 59.
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks . P. 80.
- ^ IOC World Bird List 6.4 . In: IOC World Bird List Datasets . September. doi : 10.14344 / ioc.ml.6.4 .