Alauda arvensis
The Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) is a medium-sized passerine, renowned for its extraordinary aerial song display. Measuring approximately 16-19 cm in length with a wingspan of 30-36 cm and weighing 30-45 grams, it presents a streaky brown plumage on its upperparts, a buffy white belly, and distinctive white outer tail feathers, often displaying a small, erectile crest. This cryptically colored bird belongs to the Alaudidae family, closely related to other lark species, and is a quintess...
Found in open country, the Eurasian Skylark primarily inhabits temperate grasslands, agricultural fields, heathlands, and coastal dunes, typically at low to moderate elevations.
Their diet consists primarily of insects and other invertebrates during the breeding season, transitioning to a larger proportion of seeds, cereal grains, and young plant shoots in winter.
Eurasian Skylarks are diurnal, spending most of their active hours foraging on the ground. Their most iconic behavior is the male's elaborate song flight, where he ascends to heights of 50-100 meters, hovers, and sings a continuous, bubbling, and melodious song for 5-15 minutes, sometimes exceedi...
The Eurasian Skylark has an expansive breeding range across the Palearctic, stretching from Ireland and Portugal in the west, throughout Europe and across temperate Asia to the Pacific coast of Siberia, Japan, and Korea. It also breeds in parts of North Africa, including Morocco and Algeria. Nort...
Least Concern
- A male Eurasian Skylark's song can last for up to an hour without interruption, making it one of the longest sustained bird songs. - The complex song can contain hundreds of distinct notes and mimicries, delivered at altitudes where the bird is barely visible to the naked eye. - Its distinctive...