Flappet Lark (Mirafra rufocinnamomea) [XC566387]
by David C. Moyer from North Swaka Forest Reserve, Mkushi, Central Province, Zambia (display flight)
Flappet Lark (Mirafra rufocinnamomea) [XC280464]
by Peter Boesman from Mkhuze Game Reserve, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa (wing sound)
Subspecies
Closely related to the "Cape Clapper Lark (Mirafra apiata) complex", although it overlaps with Eastern Clapper Lark (Mirafra fasciolata) in northern Namibia and northern Botswana. Differences among many contiguous subspecies broadly clinal and further study may reveal that several taxa are untenable. Birds from southern Tanzania south to central Mozambique named as subspecies zombae, but indistinguishable from fischeri.
The following 15 subspecies are recognised:
buckleyi (Shelley, 1873) - Southern Mauritania and Senegal east to northern Cameroon.
serlei White, CMN, 1960 - South-eastern Nigeria.
tigrina Oustalet, 1892 - Eastern Cameroon, southern Central African Republic and northern DRCongo.
furensis Lynes, 1923 - West-central Sudan.
sobatensis Lynes, 1914 - Central Sudan.
rufocinnamomea (Salvadori, 1865) - Northern and central Ethiopia.
omoensis Neumann, 1928 - South-western Ethiopia.
torrida Shelley, 1882 - South-eastern Sudan and southern Ethiopia south to northern Uganda, central Kenya and northern and central Tanzania.
kawirondensis van Someren, 1921 - Eastern DRCongo, southern Uganda and western Kenya.
schoutedeni White, CMN, 1956 - South-western Central African Republic, and Gabon east to western DRCongo and south to north-western Angola.
fischeri (Reichenow, 1878) - Angola (except north-west) and southern DRCongo east to eastern and southern Tanzania, eastern Kenya and southern Somalia, south to northern Zambia, Malawi and northern Mozambique.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet