Black Lark Melanocorypha yeltoniensis Scientific name definitions

Male c. 20 cm, 56–76 g; female c. 19 cm, 51–68 g. Heavy-bodied lark with rather large bill , quite short tail  and fairly broad wings  . Adult male  is unmistakable: in fresh plumage (autumn) black, with broad buffish feather tips, especially above  ; pale tips  abraded by spring, plumage practically all black  in summer  ; iris dark; bill  pale grey, with or without dark culmen or tip of upper mandible, in winter probably more yellowish-tinged ; legs dark grey. Adult female  in fresh plumage (autumn) is rather pale buffy brownish-grey above with indistinct dark markings, whitish below with buffish breast indistinctly dark-spotted, has diagnostic tertial pattern of rather broad whitish fringe, blackish subterminal band, and broad buffish submarginal area with blackish anterior border; in worn plumage , heavily streaked above  and below (including belly), looking very dark overall ; throughout year, head  pattern rather indistinct, and no prominent pale patterns in wings and tail in flight. Juvenile is similar to moderately worn adult female, but has distinct pale buffish or whitish feather fringes and dark subterminal bands above.

SW Russia and N Kazakhstan from just W of R Volga E to L Zaysan, and S to N shores of Caspian Sea, Aral Sea and just N of L Balkhash. Winters S to Black Sea region, Caucasus, N Iran, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and S Kazakhstan.

Steppe  (with e.g. Artemisia, Stipa, Festuca), preferably with some bushes, often in wet patches. Also on patches of such habitat in saline semi-desert.

Resident or short-distance migrant; probably also to some extent nomadic. Some move S or SW, beginning in Sept and Oct, reaching Ukraine, Black Sea region and extreme S parts of European Russia, and S to Caucasus region, N Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; a few also move N, NE and NW. Adults usually form single-sex flocks in non-breeding season. Recorded as accidental in several European countries (W to Britain  , N to Sweden and Finland), also Turkey, Lebanon and Mongolia.

Invertebrates and seeds. Diet in summer reported as mainly invertebrates , especially orthopterans and adult and larval beetles (Coleoptera), but also e.g. bugs (Hemiptera), lepidopterans, flies (Diptera), hymenopterans (chiefly ants), spiders (Araneae) and myriapods, also some seeds and other plant material (e.g. Festuca, Stipa, Chenopodiaceae, Polygonaceae); according to other reports, more seeds (especially of Polygonum and Rumex) than invertebrates taken in summer. In winter, feeds exclusively on seeds. Forages on ground, in flocks  outside breeding season. In winter, when ground snow-covered, seeks seeds by digging down to c. 8 cm, also by creating channels and tunnels up to 20 cm long in snow; also said to follow horses and to take food items exposed by them.

Song  , from ground or, preferably, low perch  such as bush, or in flight , a sustained rapid twittering and chirping with interspersed softer, more plaintive notes, like that of e.g. M. calandra but strophes shorter and vary more in tempo, strength, pitch, type of notes etc. Calls  with various short, harsh notes, reminiscent of e.g. M. calandra.

Season late Mar to Aug, starting at least one month earlier in S than in N; number of broods uncertain, but length of season suggests that two more likely. Male aerial display spectacular, in high song-flight flies as if slowly “rowing”, with fully extended and raised wings and fanned tail, or alternates between normal wingbeats and short or longer glides on spread wings and tail; in low-level display, ordinary flight interchanging with spells of slow, large-amplitude beats (may then clap wings) and short glides on raised, often trembling, or depressed wings. Nest built by female, in depression on ground, usually under tuft of grass  or other plant, made from Artemisia or grass, lined with finer grass, site often surrounded by animal dung  ; those dung ʿpavementsʾ may reduce trampling risk and/or provide thermal benefits (1 Fijen, T.P.M., Kamp, J., Lameris, T.K., Pulikova, G., Urazaliev, R., Kleijn, D. and Donald, P.F. (2015). Functions of extensive animal dung ‘‘pavements’’ around the nests of the Black Lark (Melanocorypha yeltoniensis). The Auk. 132(4): 878–892. Close ). Clutch 2–8 eggs  , most often 4 or 5; incubation  by female  alone, period 15–16 days; chicks  fed by both parents, leave nest at 9–11 days, fledging  period not documented.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Locally common. No accurate figures for population; possibly 6000–10,000 pairs estimated in Russia. Has apparently decreased locally in Kazakhstan, possibly also in Russia, as a result of cultivation of dry steppes; steppe habitat elsewhere in range also threatened by intensification of stock-farming. Sex ratio of this species exceptionally skewed, males outnumbering females (e.g. 68% of fledged juveniles in one study were males); in non-breeding season, male flocks often large but those of females much smaller; flocks consisting solely of males often encountered also at peak of breeding season.