Blanford's lark
Blanford's lark or Blanford's short-toed lark ("Calandrella blanfordi") is a small passerine bird of the lark family, Alaudidae, which is native to north-east Africa. Its common name commemorates the English zoologist William Thomas Blanford. Taxonomy and systematics. Blanford's lark was formerly included in either the greater short-toed lark ("C. brachydactyla") or the red-capped lark ("C. cinerea") but is now commonly treated as a separate species. Alternate names for Blanford's lark include Blandford's lark, Blandford's short-toed lark and Blanford's red-capped lark. Subspecies. Two subspecies are  recognized: Description. Blanford's lark is 14–15 centimetres long. The upperparts are pale sandy-brown with some darker streaking and the crown is rufous. The underparts are pale and plain apart from a small dark patch on the side of the neck made up of vertical streaks. The greater short-toed lark is similar but has a greyer, more-streaked crown. Erlanger's and red-capped larks have darker upperparts with more streaking and a darker rufous crown. Erlanger's lark has larger dark neck-patches while in red-capped lark the patches are rufous. Blanford's lark has a  sparrow-like flight-call. The song is given in a circular song-flight and includes a mixture of "chew-chew-chew-chew" notes and fluid phrases. Habitat and movements. They occur on open stony plains, often with bushes. In Arabia, it breeds between 1800 and 2500 metres above sea-level with some birds dispersing to lower ground in winter. The species is often seen in flocks outside the breeding season.