Skylark

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Skylark
Skylark (Alauda arvensis) song of skylark? / I

Skylark ( Alauda arvensis ) song of skylark ? / i
Audio file / audio sample

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Superfamily : Sylvioidea
Family : Larks (Alaudidae)
Genre : Alauda
Type : Skylark
Scientific name
Alauda arvensis
Linnaeus , 1758

The skylark ( Alauda arvensis ) is a species of bird from the lark family (Alaudidae). This medium-sized species of lark inhabits almost the entire Palearctic from Ireland and Portugal to Kamchatka and Japan . It inhabits not too moist, spacious open areas of all kinds with low and often patchy vegetation and in Central Europe is largely tied to areas used for agriculture. Depending on its geographical distribution, the species ranges from resident to short-range migrants . The skylark is a very common breeding bird in Europe and is considered to be safe worldwide, despite significant population declines in parts of the range.

In 1998 and 2019 the skylark was named " Bird of the Year " in Germany.

description

A skylark from the front; The striped chest and the white belly are clearly recognizable

Skylarks are medium-sized, slender larks with quite long wings, a light hood that can be set up on the male, a strong beak, a relatively long tail and a long rear claw (back toe nail), the so-called lark spur. The body length of the bird is 16 to 18 cm with a weight of 30 to 45 g. The basic color of the top is beige to reddish brown. The top of the head and back, including the rump, are finely striped lengthways and dotted with black-brown lines. The upper breast and the flanks are clearly dark, longitudinally streaked and dashed on a yellowish white or light brownish background, the rest of the belly and the flanks are white.

The wingspan ranges from 30 to 35 cm. The wings are dark gray-brown, the inner hand wings and the arm wings have a narrow whitish end band. The tail is gray-brown, with the fifth control spring , counting from the inside out , the outer vane is narrowly lined with whitish, with the outermost (sixth) control spring the outer vane is almost completely whitish and the inner vane on the distal half is predominantly whitish.

The yellowish white, strong over-eye stripe ends at the rear edge of the ear covers . These are brightly red-brown and outlined. The beard stripe is broadly white, the weak chin stripe is dark gray-brown, the throat white.

The legs are light brown. The beak is horn-colored, the lower bill is lightened at the base. The iris is dark brown in adult skylarks and light brown in juvenile plumage.

Vocalizations

The birds' song is presented by the males mainly in singing flight; less often and then shorter from the ground. It is long and lasts for 3 to 15 minutes and consists of a fast, uninterrupted sequence of alternating and sometimes rhythmically repeated rolling, trilling or chirping tones, in which imitations (e.g. of kestrels ) are occasionally woven. With such singing flights, which are characteristic of breeders in open terrain and serve to mark the area, the male replaces the singing stations that are missing in this landscape. The males sing from dawn to evening from late January to mid or late July. Females also sing, but quieter than the males and sitting on the ground.

distribution and habitat

Distribution of the skylark:
  • Breeding areas
  • Year-round occurrence
  • migration
  • Wintering areas
  • Introductory areas
  • Population probably extinct & introduced

    • The skylark inhabits almost the entire Palearctic . The distribution area extends in west-east direction from Ireland and Portugal to Kamchatka and Japan . In a north-south direction, the area extends from the northern tip of Norway to North Africa, to the southern tip of Italy including Sicily and to the north of Greece ; further east from 68–69 ° N to southeast Turkey , with isolated occurrences as far as the mountains of Central Asia and the Tian Shan , Mongolia and North Korea .

    She lives in not too moist, spacious open areas with low and often patchy vegetation made of grasses and herbs. In Central Europe, it is largely tied to agricultural areas, the main breeding habitats are fertilized meadows, pastures and fields.

    A skylark with prey in its beak

    nutrition

    The diet consists of both animal and vegetable components. In the summer it mainly eats insects, but also other invertebrates such as spiders, small snails and earthworms . In winter skylarks feed mainly on plants from seeds, seedlings , freshly sprouting grasses and small leaves.

    Reproduction

    Eggs of a skylark
    Nest with hatching skylarks
    Nest with hatching skylarks

    The nest is hidden on the ground, preferably in areas with 15 to 25 cm high vegetation and a ground cover of 20 to 50%. It consists of a self-scratched, up to 7 cm deep hollow that is lined with fine vegetable material. In Central Europe, eggs are laid in mid or late March at the earliest, but usually not until mid April. Second broods are common in Central Europe, third broods have rarely been detected. The last clutches are started in mid-July to early August. The clutch consists of 2 to 6 eggs, which are dense gray to brownish spots on a whitish to light brownish background. The breeding season lasts 11 to 12 days. Incubation is carried out exclusively by the female, the nestlings are under the age of 5 days only by the female brooded , but then fed by both parents. The young birds leave the nest at 7 to 11 days and can fly short distances after 15 to 20 days; after 30 days they are independent. Sexual maturity is reached in the first year of life.

    Behavior and flight

    During the breeding season, the skylark lives in pairs. The male defends the territory with his song against conspecifics. After the breeding season, the birds often form large flocks in order to move to warmer regions. The flight of the skylark is very specific. The bird literally climbs up its song. In doing so, it climbs constantly trilling in a spiral flight to heights between 50 and 100 meters, remains in the air for a long time and then suddenly flies down again, the last part with its wings attached. She does not interrupt her singing. Just above the ground, it unfolds its wings and catches the dive.

    hikes

    Depending on its geographical distribution, the species ranges from resident to short-range migrants . The skylarks north and east of the 0 ° C January isotherm migrate to southwest Europe, the Mediterranean region, Africa to the northern edge of the Sahara and Western Asia in autumn. To the south and west of this isotherm the animals pass or only make very short hikes. In areas where there is no longer snow cover, such as Great Britain and Ireland and Western Europe, the animals stay all year round. The departure of Scandinavian birds begins in mid-September and reaches its peak in mid-October. The homecoming begins in late January to mid-February, culminates in March and ends in early May. In Central Europe, the breeding areas are usually occupied from mid-February to early March, depending on the weather, when cold spells there are reversals.

    Existence and endangerment

    The skylark is the most common open land bird in Central Europe. There is no reliable information on the world population , the IUCN gives 40 to 80 million breeding pairs as a rough estimate for the European population alone. The population in Germany was estimated at 2.1 to 3.2 million pairs for 2008, making the species the ninth most common breeding bird species.

    Lark window in a grain field near Ostbevern

    Above all, the strong intensification of agriculture in Europe has led to strong population declines since the 1970s, so that the stocks in Germany sometimes fell dramatically by 50 to 90 percent. Other sources of danger are the sealing of the landscape and direct hunting such as in south-west France. In Germany the population decreased by around 30 percent between 1980 and 2005; the skylark is on the red list in category 3 (“endangered”). According to the IUCN, however, the species is not endangered worldwide.

    In addition to the loss of habitats due to overbuilding for traffic, settlements and businesses, the main reasons for the population decline in Germany were the continuing intensification of land management. Over the past few decades, rain and fallow land have been removed. The cultivation fields were enlarged more and more. There was a narrowing of the crop rotation with increased use of pesticides and fertilizers. The increased cultivation of maize, for example for use as an energy crop, in which skylarks do not breed, is also unfavorable.

    Species relief measures

    One measure to protect the larks is the creation of so-called lark windows. According to a method developed in England, short strips are left out on the fields when sowing rape or winter grain. The larks can then build their nests there and are not hindered by the growing grain on arrival and departure. Therefore, two to three broods per year are possible in these strips. Other ground breeders can also benefit from the measure .

    Investigations on lark windows showed that there were no measurable successes for skylarks and other field birds. In the Hellwegbörde , on the other hand, there were clear successes in fallow land, fallow land planted with alfalfa and extensively cultivated summer and winter wheat. In the case of extensively used summer and winter wheat, the seed row spacing is doubled and pesticides and fertilizers are not used.

    Larks as food

    Up until the end of the 19th century, larks were caught in the thousands as wild fowl , especially in the Leipzig area, prepared for human consumption and marketed.

    literature

    • Einhard Bezzel: Compendium of the birds of Central Europe. Passeres - songbirds. Aula, Wiesbaden 1993, ISBN 3-89104-530-1 , pp. 36-41.
    • Rudolf Pätzold : The skylark. 3. Edition. Ziemsen, Lutherstadt Wittenberg 1983.
    • Lars Svensson, Peter J. Grant, Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterström: The new cosmos bird guide. Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07720-9 , pp. 231-232.

    Web links

    Commons : Skylark  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
    Wiktionary: Skylark  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ Bird of the Year (Germany): 1998 and 2019
    2. ↑ Typical agricultural bird in descent - the skylark is "Bird of the Year" 2019
    3. ↑ a b c d e birds of the fields, meadows and moors . In: Birds of our region . A6 020 401-24 (2). Atlas Publishing House.
    4. ↑ C. Sudfeldt, R. Dröschmeister, C. Grüneberg, S. Jaehne, A. Mitschke, J. Wahl: Vögel in Deutschland - 2008. DDA, BfN, LAG VSW, Münster 2008: p. 7. Full text, PDF
    5. ↑ Christoph Grüneberg, Hans-Günther Bauer, Heiko Haupt, Ommo Hüppop, Torsten Ryslavy, Peter Südbeck: Red List of Germany's Breeding Birds , 5 version . In: German Council for Bird Protection (Hrsg.): Reports on bird protection . tape 52 , November 30, 2015.
    6. ↑ H. Hötker, V. Dierschke, M. Flade, C. Leuschner: Loss of diversity in the breeding bird world of arable and grassland . Nature u. Landscape 2014/89: 410-416.
    7. ↑ Ralf Joest: How effective are contractual nature conservation measures for field birds? Investigations on skylark windows, extensive grain fields and fallow fields in the Hellwegbörde (North Rhine-Westphalia) . Vogelwelt 2018/138: 109-121.