The Agulhas long-billed lark (''Certhilauda brevirostris''), also known as the Agulhas lark or Agulhas longbill is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. It is an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

resident breeder in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, South Africa. Its restricted range is centred on the

Agulhas Agulhas (''needles'' in the Portuguese language — or ) may refer to: * Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa * L'Agulhas, a town near the Cape * Cape Agulhas Lighthouse, located at the Cape * Cape Agulhas Local Municipality, the municipa ...

arable farmlands, from east of the

Hottentots-Holland The Hottentots Holland Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Cape Town metropolitan area and the southern Overberg coast. The range is primarily composed of Ta ...

mountain range to

Mossel Bay Mossel Bay ( af, Mosselbaai) is a harbour town of about 99,000 people on the Southern Cape (or Garden Route) of South Africa. It is an important tourism and farming region of the Western Cape Province. Mossel Bay lies 400 kilometres east of the ...

, and occupies a maximum of .

Taxonomy and systematics

This

lark Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occu ...

was formerly considered as a subspecies of the

Cape long-billed lark The Cape long-billed lark (''Certhilauda curvirostris''), also known as the Cape lark, Cape longbill or long-billed lark is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae. It is found in south-western Africa. Its natural habitats are semi-arid Karoo s ...

, as ''Certhilauda curvirostris brevirostris'' until it and three other subspecies were elevated to species status (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993). The

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. T ...

re-lumped the species in with the Cape long-billed lark in 2017.Ryan, P. (2017). Cape Long-billed Lark (''Certhilauda curvirostris''). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/57630 on 30 March 2017). Clements has also lumped both together.

Description

The Agulhas long-billed lark is in length. It is long-tailed and has a longish curved bill. It has a streaked buff-grey head and back, and the closed wings are grey. The underparts are cream-coloured with dark streaking on the breast and flanks. Compared to Cape long-billed lark, this species has more buff colour and has a shorter tail and bill. The display song of Agulhas long-billed lark is a disyllabic whistle "''seeooo seeeooo''".

Distribution and habitat

The natural habitat of Agulhas long-billed lark is uncertain, since most of its range has been converted into stony wheatfields and pasture land, only 30% remaining as coastal

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...

scrub. It is endemic to South Africa. However, it appears to have adapted quite well to its modified habitats, like farmlands, although its distribution is patchy for unknown reasons.

Behaviour and ecology

At present, very little is known about its ecology and breeding requirements. Like other larks, it nests on the ground. Its food is seeds and insects, the latter especially in the breeding season.

References

*Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton, ''SASOL Birds of Southern Africa'', *Sibley, C. G. and Monroe, B. L. (1990) ''Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world''. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press. , *Sibley, C. G. and Monroe, B. L. (1993) ''A supplement to Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world''. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press.
BirdLife International
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3315796 Agulhas long-billed lark Endemic birds of South Africa Agulhas long-billed lark