Calandra Lark
Calandra ( Melanocorypha calandra )
The Calandra Lark ( Melanocorypha calandra ) is a species of bird which belongs to the family of larks ( Alaudidae ). It is a breeding bird of the Mediterranean and steppe zone of the southwestern Palaearctic to Zentralpaläarktis. In Central Europe it is occasionally observed as a rare Irrgast.
Features
The Calandra Lark is 19 cm long and has a wingspan of about 40 centimeters. She has a big, thick beak, brownish pink feet, broad wings and a short, barely cut cock. It is on the upper side, depending on geographic distribution brown to pale beige, with bright eyes glancing over, throat and chest are creamy yellow, the latter dashed dark, the other lower parts are white. 's Neck sides with two large black spots The rockers are hand dark and have a characteristic broad white trailing edge. The tail feathers are brown black, the tail outer sides white; the eye is brown, brown beak above, yellowish below.
The example provided in the fly singing is similar to the Skylark, but with slower clock and many rufartigen tones and also contains imitations.
Occurrence
It inhabits dry steppe sites and structurally similar, the man-made sites (pasture, dry cereal fields) in southern Europe, northwest Africa, Turkey and Turkestan.
Eastern populations are migratory, mainly Western populations resident birds.
Food
The food in the summer include relatively large insects, and in winter from seed. In the spring she also eats green shoots.
Breeding biology
The nest is on the ground in an open area, usually in a hollow, and consists of fairly coarse grass, small leaves, shoots and roots and lined with fine fibrous plant material. The nest consists of three to six pale gray or yellowish-white, olive - gray or brown -spotted eggs. The one to two broods are incubated for about 16 days and the nestlings leave fledged the nest after about ten days.