Karoo Lark Calendulauda albescens Scientific name definitions

c. 17 cm (male 3–7% lar­ger); male 27–33 g, female 25–29 g. Medium-sized lark with slender, slightly decurved bill  and relatively long tail. Nominate race has white supercilium, dark loral line, white area around eye, narrow black malar streak; crown and upperparts grey-brown, heavily streaked dark; wings and tail dark brown, wings with narrow buff edges, outer pair of rectrices with very narrow pale outer edge; white below, heavily streaked blackish from breast to upper belly, narrower streaks on flanks; eyes brown; bill dark horn, with paler base; legs dull pinkish-horn. Distinguished from similar C. barlowi mainly by much heavier streaking, also smaller size, with more delicate head and bill. Sexes alike in plumage. Juvenile has upperpart feathers tipped pale cream with dark brown subterminal bars, breast streaks more rounded and diffuse. Races differ primarily in upperpart coloration, richer inland (varying to match soil colour): <em>codea</em> is more sandy-grey above than nominate; <em>guttata</em> is rufous; <em>karruensis</em> is rich chocolate-brown.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

• Karoo x Dune Lark (hybrid) Calendulauda albescens x erythrochlamys

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Inhabits shrubland and well-vegetated dunes, usually on sandy soils  . Occurs in coastal strandveld, arid fynbos and karoo scrub, but typically absent from sand-plain fynbos. Generally avoids rocky areas, but found in small sandy pockets among rock outcrops. In area of range overlap with C. barlowi, present species occurs in areas with denser, taller vegetation than those inhabited by that species.

Resident.

Diet mostly insects, including grasshoppers (Acrididae), caterpillars, beetles (Coleoptera), termites (Isoptera), mantids, bugs (Hemiptera), dipteran larvae and ants; also spiders, and even snails; also takes seeds, fruits and flowers, occasionally also fruit from low bushes. Grass seeds make up only 13% of seeds consumed. Feeds on ground, digging vigorously in sand with its bill, or gleaning insects from vegetation. Feeds on termites at fresh aardvark (Orycteropus afer) diggings. Not recorded as drinking water.

Male song , in aerial display or from prominent perch or ground, a repeated, stereotyped phrase  of 2–5 staccato notes followed by rather buzzy trill, “tip tip tip zree trrrrr”, varies regionally but always faster and higher-pitched than those of other members of superspecies; duration 1–1·5 seconds, shorter than C. barlowi and C. erythrochlamys, and with two distinct components in terminal trill; where studied, several song varieties at a site, with most males using same song at once. Both sexes also utter shorter “eezer eeit” call, in flight or from perch, and low-pitched chittering alarm from ground or low bush.

Nests in Jul–Nov; may not breed at all in dry years. Territorial and monogamous; male sings throughout year, but mostly in spring breeding season. Male has protracted aerial display 10–30 m above territory, with flight heavy and fluttering, often with legs trailing. Nest built by female, cup-shaped, usually with partial or complete domed roof and side entrance, lined with dry grass and other vegetation, including cotton-like seeds of Eriocephalus, placed in depression in ground at base of a bush or grass tuft. Clutch 2–3 eggs (mean 2·6); no data on incubation period; chicks fed by both parents, with insects, leave nest before able to fly, seeking shelter in vegetation; no information on fledging period.

Not globally threatened. Common, especially in W of its range. Although coastal populations have suffered loss of habitat through resort development and diamond-mining activities, they remain abundant. Inland populations may have been adversely affected by overgrazing, because they favour areas with more cover; they have lost habitat to crop-farming along dry watercourses in the Karoo.