Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris'') is a species of

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 occ ...

in the family

Alaudidae 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 occ ...

. It is found in south-central Asia from Iran and Kazakhstan to China.

Taxonomy and systematics

The name commemorates the British naturalist

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, Order of the Bath, CB Indian Civil Service, ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British political reformer, ornithologist, civil servant and botanist who worked in British Raj, British India and was the founding spirit ...

who described the species. The alternate name short-toed lark may also be used for three other species in the genus ''Calandrella''. The alternate name lesser short-toed lark should not be confused with the species of the same name, '' Alaudala rufescens''. Other alternate names for Hume's short-toed lark include Hume's lark and Karakoram short-toed lark.

Subspecies

Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized: * ''C. a. acutirostris'' - Hume, 1873: Found from north-eastern Iran and eastern Kazakhstan to western China * Tibet short-toed lark (''C. a. tibetana'') - Brooks, WE, 1880: Originally described as a separate species. Found from north-eastern Pakistan to

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...

Description

Hume's short-toed lark is similar in size and appearance to the

greater short-toed lark The greater short-toed lark (''Calandrella brachydactyla'') is a small passerine bird. The current scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus name, ''Calandrella'', is a diminutive of ''kalandros'', the calandra lark, and ''brachydactila' ...

but is generally a duller-looking bird with slightly darker plumage and a slightly smaller beak. As with the greater short-toed lark, the colour varies across the broad range and is not a good distinguishing feature. Hume's short-toed lark grows to a length of from and the sexes are similar. The crown is brown with slight diffuse streaking, the cheeks are rufous-brown and the

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

white. The upper parts are greyish-brown or sandy brown with darker streaking, and the upper tail coverts are washed with rufous-brown. The wings are greyish-brown with black barring and pale tips to the feathers. The underparts are mostly whitish, but there is a dark neck patch and a buffish-grey breast band. The breast is unstreaked. The voice helps distinguish this species; vocalisations include a shrill "''trree''" and a more rolling "''drreep''".

Status

This species is evaluated as "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

" by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

due to its extensive range, stable population trend, and a population size that is not believed to approach threatened levels.

Gallery

File:Hume's Short-toed Lark.jpg, Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris'').Amravati, Maharashtra, India. File:Hume's Short-toed Lark (Feb 2016) MH.jpg, Hume's short-toed lark (''Calandrella acutirostris''). Akola, Maharashtra, India. File:Hume's Short-toed Lark Laxman Chowk, Sikkim, India 13.05.2014.jpg, From Laxman chowk, close to

Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary encompassing an area of in the Pakyong District of the Indian state of Sikkim. It was established in 2002 and includes the hamlets of Aritar, Dakline Lingtam, Phadamchen, Dzuluk, Gnathang M ...

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

, India

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q966703 Hume's short-toed lark Birds of Afghanistan Birds of Central Asia Birds of Pakistan Birds of the Himalayas Birds of Tibet Birds of Western China Hume's short-toed lark Taxonomy articles created by Polbot