Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) [XC750775]
by Stanislas Wroza from Chandmani, Khovd, Mongolia (call)
Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) [XC41283]
by Patrik \u00c5berg from Heligoland, Schleswig Holstein, Germany (alarm call, flight and alarm calls)
Nest
A depression in the ground, usually sheltered under a rock or tussock, unlined.
Eggs (Guide)
2 - 4; smooth, greenish-white spotted with pale brown.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Temminck's Lark (Eremophila bilopha), formerly considered conspecific.
Highly variable over vast range, and numerous subspecies described, broadly separable into two main types: all New World subspecies together with Old World flava, brandti and atlas (having black face mask not connected to black breastband), and remaining Old World subspecies (mask usually joining with breastband).
Subspecies teleschowi sometimes treated as separate species, apparently not interbreeding with other subspecies where ranges overlap.
The following 42 subspecies are recognised:
arcticola (Oberholser, 1902) - Alaska and north-western Canada (Yukon south to British Columbia).
hoyti (Bishop, 1896) - Northern Canada (northern Baffin I south to northern Alberta and western Ontario).
alpestris (Linnaeus, 1758) - Eastern Canada (western Ontario east to Newfoundland).
merrilli (Dwight, 1890) - Western coast of Canada and USA (British Columbia south to northern California).
strigata (Henshaw, 1884) - Coastal southern British Colombia and north-western USA (south to Oregon).
alpina (Jewett, 1943) - Extreme north-western USA (Olympic Mts and Cascade Range, in western Washington).
lamprochroma (Oberholser, 1932) - Inland montane western USA (Washington south to northern California and east to Nevada).
leucolaema Coues, 1874 - South-western Canada (southern Alberta) south to west-central USA (south to Colorado and New Mexico).
enthymia (Oberholser, 1902) - Great Plains from south-central Canada (Saskatchewan, Manitoba) southern in USA to Oklahoma and Texas.
praticola (Henshaw, 1884) - Eastern USA (from Minnesota) east to south-eastern Canada (east to Nova Scotia), south to Kansas and northern Carolina.
sierrae (Oberholser, 1920) - Mountains of north-eastern California.
rubea (Henshaw, 1884) - Central California.
utahensis (Behle, 1938) - Montane west-central USA (Idaho south to central Nevada and Utah ).
insularis (Dwight, 1890) - Channel Is, off south-western California.
actia (Oberholser, 1902) - Coast Ranges of southern California and extreme north-western Mexico (northern Baja California).
ammophila (Oberholser, 1902) - Mojave and Amargosa Deserts, in south-eastern California and adjacent south-western Nevada.
leucansiptila (Oberholser, 1902) - Colorado Desert from south-western Nevada and western Arizona south to extreme north-western Mexico (north-eastern Baja California, north-western Sonora).
occidentalis (McCall, 1851) - Northern Arizona east to central New Mexico.
adusta (Dwight, 1890) - Southern Arizona east to southern New Mexico.
enertera (Oberholser, 1907) - Central Baja California.
giraudi (Henshaw, 1884) - Coastal southern USA (southern Texas) south to north-eastern Mexico.
aphrasta (Oberholser, 1902) - North-western Mexico (south to Durango).
peregrina (Sclater, PL, 1855) - Eastern Andes of Colombia (Altiplano Cundiboyacense, north of Bogotá).
flava (Gmelin, JF, 1789) - Northern Eurasia east to north-eastern Russia (Anadyrland), south to southern Norway, L Baikal and north-western Amurland.
brandti (Dresser, 1874) - South-eastern European Russia (lower R Volga) and northern Transcaspia east to western Manchuria, south to northern Turkmenistan, Tien Shan and Mongolia.
atlas (Whitaker, 1898) - Morocco (Atlas Mts).
balcanica (Reichenow, 1895) - South-eastern Europe (southern Balkans and Greece).
kumerloevei Roselaar, 1995 - Western and central Asia Minor.
penicillata (Gould, 1838) - Eastern Turkey and Caucasus east to northern and western Iran.
albigula (Bonaparte, 1850) - South-western Turkmenistan and north-eastern Iran east to western Tien Shan and south to north-western Pakistan.
argalea (Oberholser, 1902) - Northern Ladakh, extreme western China (western Kun Lun Mts) and western Tibetan Plateau.
teleschowi (Przewalski, 1887) - Central and eastern Kun Lun Mts from southern Xinjiang east to north-western Qinghai and south to northern Xizang (western China).
przewalskii (Bianchi, 1904) - Qaidam Basin, in northern Qinghai.
nigrifrons (Przewalski, 1876) - Mountains of north-eastern Qinghai.
longirostris (Moore, F, 1856) - Himalayas from north-eastern Pakistan and Kashmir east to Sikkim.
elwesi (Blanford, 1872) - Southern and eastern Tibetan Plateau.
khamensis (Bianchi, 1904) - South-central China (south-eastern Xizang, western Sichuan).
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7