White winged lark
| White winged lark | ||||||||||||
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White winged lark ( Alauda leucoptera ) |
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| Alauda leucoptera | ||||||||||||
| Hablizl , 1785 |
The white-winged lark ( Alauda leucoptera , syn .: Melanocorypha leucoptera ) is a species from the lark family . No subspecies are distinguished.
description
The Weißflügelellerche reaches a body length of 18 centimeters. It weighs between 36 and 52 grams. The wingspan is between 33 and 37 centimeters. In flight it is unmistakable due to the characteristic wing pattern: the outer feathers of the wings are black, the inner feathers are white and the rest of the wing is maroon. The body is gray on top with dark vertical lines. The underside of the body is whitish. The adult male whitefly lark has a chestnut brown hood, otherwise the two sexes are the same.
Distribution area and existence
The white winged lark is a breeding bird in the steppe zone of the Central Palearctic . The distribution area extends from the lower Volga over the southwest of Mongolia to the northwest of China . In Europe, the species only breeds in Russia . The breeding population there is between 20,000 and 65,000 breeding pairs.
The species is a short-range migrant and winters in northwest Pakistan and northern Iran to Anatolia , southern Russia and Ukraine . Occasionally there are overwintering populations also on the Black Sea coast of Romania and in northern Greece . The train starts in August and lasts until October. From March the birds move back to their breeding areas.
Way of life
The food consists mainly of insects, in winter also of seeds. During the breeding season, the white winged lark is territorial, but since the territories are small, loose nest colonies often form. Outside the breeding season, the white winged lark is a sociable bird.
The white winged lark breeds in low grass and wormwood steppes. The nest is a well-covered ground nest made of blades of grass, which is covered with fine fibers. It is only built by the female. Laying begins from the end of April to the beginning of May. The clutches usually contain five to six eggs. The eggs are spindle-shaped, shiny and very variable in color. The incubation period is twelve to thirteen days. It only breeds the female. The young birds leave the nest after ten days. At this point you are still unable to fly.
Whitewings breed once or twice a year. If the nest is lost, they put another clutch.
Systematics
For a long time it was assumed that Peter Simon Pallas first described this species as Alauda leucoptera in 1811 . In 2013, the Czech ornithologist Jiří Mlíkovský raised concerns that this authorship is not permitted under Article 80.9 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999), as Carl Ludwig Hablizl had already made a correct description in 1785.
supporting documents
literature
- Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 2: Passeriformes - passerine birds. Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-648-0 .
Web links
- Alauda leucoptera inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
- Feathers of the white winged lark
Single receipts
- ↑ a b Mlíkovský, J. (2013) The authorship and type locality of Melanocorypha leucoptera (Aves: Alaudidae). Zootaxa, 3616 (3), 298-300. doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.3616.3.9 .
- ^ Bauer et al., P. 126