Geezer lark
| Geezer lark | ||||||||||||
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Crackers Lark ( Ramphocoris clotbey ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Ramphocoris | ||||||||||||
| Bonaparte , 1850 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Ramphocoris clotbey | ||||||||||||
| Bonaparte, 1850 |
The crackler lark ( Ramphocoris clotbey ) is a species from the lark family. Their distribution area is in northern Africa. It is a medium-sized, very strong and compactly built lark with a grosbeak-like beak. Due to its beak, it cannot be confused with any other species of lark. No subspecies are distinguished.
The IUCN classifies the populace of the Knacker Lark as harmless (least concern). It is named after the French doctor Antoine Barthélémy Clot ( Clot Bey , 1793–1868).
features
The crackler lark reaches a body length of about 17 to 18 centimeters, of which the male has between 5.7 and 6.4 centimeters and the female 5.3 to 5.8 centimeters on the tail. The beak measures between 1.78 and 2.2 centimeters from the skull in males, while in females it is between 1.8 and 2.2 centimeters. In addition to the size difference, there is also a gender dimorphism in the plumage .
The male of the crackler lark has a pinkish-brown head, the eye is finely framed, a very narrow stripe above the eye begins at the base of the upper beak and runs above the eye to the back of the head. The cheeks and ear-covers are black with a large white spot. A smaller second white spot is found at the base of the beak. The upper side of the body corresponds in color to the head. The chin is white. The throat, goiter and chest are whitish and streaked with black. The lower abdomen and the upper tail-coverts are whitish to creamy white. The wings of the hand are gray-brown to black-brown and some have white outer flags or broad white tips. The arm wings are black-brown with white markings, which together form a white wing band. The elytra are dark brown to dark gray and partly broadly lined with whitish or yellowish brown. The middle pair of control springs is light brown to reddish-cinnamon with a dark brown end band. The sixth (outermost) control spring is predominantly creamy white, but has a blackish-brown spot at the end of the inner vane. The remaining control feathers are cinnamon and become lighter towards the tail side.
The female is drawn a little paler overall, the markings on the underside of the body are more brownish.
The strong, conical beak is horn-colored in both sexes. It has a tooth-like indentation in the cutting center of the lower mandible. The nostrils are covered with bristles. The nail of the rear toe is only bent flat and only barely corresponds in length to the rear toe.
Distribution area and habitat
The cracklerk is found in northern Africa. Its range includes the Western Sahara , Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and the northwest of Libya. In Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Northern Arabia, it is less common and only occasionally a breeding bird. The cracker lark is basically a resident bird, but outside of the breeding season many individuals roam far and can then also be found outside of their breeding area and in habitats that are untypical for them. For example, crackers can be seen in Kuwait from January to April.
The habitat of the cracker lark are deserts, they mainly populate the hammada . The surface of this type of desert is densely littered with blocky, angular rubble or rock material that has accumulated here as a result of physical weathering and the expansion of the fine material. Outside the breeding season, it can also be found in less arid habitats.
Way of life
The cracklerk eats seeds, green plant material and insects. Rudolf Pätzold suspects that the powerful beak is used to crack the chitin shell of larger beetles. In addition to plant material from Plantago ovata and euphorbias and seeds, stomach examinations have also shown lizards.
The breeding season falls from mid-March to late May. Like all larks, the crackler is also a ground breeder. The clutch consists of three to five eggs.
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
- Ramphocoris clotbey in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2016 Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Accessed January 17, 2017th
- Song of the crackler on Xeno-Canto