Species: Horned Lark
Latin name: Eremophila alpestris
English name: Horned Lark
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Description:
Our website is dedicated to finches, but it will continue to evolve, and we will be sharing information with you about other families belonging to the order Passeriformes. I have chosen to introduce you to the Horned Lark, as it is a species rarely seen in captivity and is particularly beautiful. I was lucky enough to photograph it at a breeding facility abroad a few years ago. In the published photos, you can compare the brighter-coloured male with the browner female. It nests on the ground, preferably in a spacious, planted aviary.
The website ‘Les oiseaux.net’ states that there are several geographical variants of this species: birds from northern Europe (subspecies flava) have the black on their head distinct from that on their breast. In those from south-eastern Europe (subspecies balcanica), northern Turkey and the Caucasus (subspecies penicillata), the black on the head and that on the breast form a single block. In the Middle East (subspecies bicornis), the upperparts are a warmer reddish-brown.
