Masked lark
| Masked lark | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Spizocorys personata | ||||||||||||
| Sharpe , 1895 |
The mask lark ( Spizocorys personata ) is a small, dark red-brownish bird art from the family of larks. It is about 25 percent smaller than a skylark and is slimmer than the obbial lark . The distribution area of the masked lark is in the east of Africa. There are four subspecies. It is named after the black face drawing.
The stock situation of the masked lark was classified in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2016 as " Least Concern (LC) " = "not endangered".
features
The masked lark reaches a body length of about 13 centimeters, of which between 4.8 and 5.1 centimeters are on the tail. The beak measures between 1.35 and 1.55 centimeters from the skull. It weighs just under 20 grams. There is no gender dimorphism .
The forehead, crown and neck as well as the rear neck of the masked lark are gray-brown with inconspicuous stripes. The plumage is spotted dark brown on these parts of the body, so that the overall appearance is scaly. The coat is gray-brown, the plumage of the back has a more pronounced shade of gray, the plumage is also indistinctly darkly striped. The rump and upper tail-coverts are colored similarly.
On the face, a black mask runs around the eye to the base of the beak and down to the cheek. The ear covers are gray-brown and separated from the black mask by a small light spot. The chin and throat are white, the chest is gray-brown, the belly is a little reddish. The under tail-coverts are yellow-brown. The hand and arm wings are brown. The tail feathers are dark brown, but the outermost rudder feather has a light yellow-brown inner flag with a narrow dark brown border. The middle pair of control springs is the lightest. The beak is brightly horn-colored, with the lower beak slightly lighter.
Possible confusion
In the distribution area of the masked lark, there is no other species of lark with which the masked lark could be confused.
Distribution area and habitat
The masked lark occurs in the east and south of Ethiopia, as well as in the north and in the central area of Kenya. It is a resident bird in the entire area .
The masked lark's habitat is grassland that is only sparsely overgrown with individual thorn bushes. It also occurs on black lava floors.
Way of life
The habits of the masked lark have not yet been conclusively investigated. No details are known about the male's courtship flights or the reproductive biology of this species has been studied in detail. The masked lark eats invertebrates such as grasshoppers, grass seeds and tubers.
Subspecies
There are four subspecies.
- S. p. personata Sharpe , 1895: Occurrence in eastern Ethiopia
- S. p. yavelloensis ( Benson , 1947): Occurrence from southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya.
- S. p. mcchesneyi ( Williams, JG , 1957): Occurrence on the high plateau of Marsabit County in northern Kenya.
- S. p. intensa ( Rothschild , 1931): Occurrence in the central area of Kenya
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
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks. P. 294.
- ↑ Spizocorys personata in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved on 9 October 2017th
- ^ Pätzold: Compendium of Larks. P. 293.
- ^ IOC World Bird List 6.4 . In: IOC World Bird List Datasets . September. doi : 10.14344 / ioc.ml.6.4 .