Family:
The short-toed lark, also known as the greater short-toed lark to distinguish it from the lesser short-toed lark, is a small, pale, round-headed bird with a triangular shaped bill. It has dark, streaked, grey-brown upperparts, with white underparts, and a dark tail. At the side of the neck there is a small dark patch, that is obvious when the head is raised, and faint streaks that join across the breast. There is a row of dark spots on the median coverts, pale wingbars, and long tertial feathers that cover the wingtips. On the head, the crown is rufous, it has a pale supercilium, and the beak is pink with a grey culmen. Males and females are similar.
In the morning, it is often found in flocks that gather at water, while in the evening it roosts on open ground, with each bird sitting a small depression made in the soil. Its song varies between a dry twittering and more varied melody, and while in song flight, it drifts and hovers with its tail folded.
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It eats mainly seeds which it sometimes digs from the ground, but in the summer will supplement its diet with insects.
During breeding season, short-toed larks are found in southern Europe, northwest Africa, and central and south Asia on dry open grassland and pastures with short shrubs. It migrates south for the winter to India and the southern edge of the Sahara.
