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Angola Lark | Amirafra angolensis
Angolese leeuwerik | Alondra Angoleña
Angola Lark is a large, heavily streaked lark of the open grasslands and dambos on the plateau of Angola and north-western Zambia. It looks like a dark Rufous-Naped Lark without a crest and within the region is confined to the far north-west. Little is known about it.
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Voice
Short, clear whistled phrases of a few notes, given from a termite mound, a grass tuft or a low shrub, and in a short display flight over the grassland. The song is poorly documented; the bird sings mainly in the rainy season.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
17–18 cm. Large and heavily built, with a stout, slightly decurved bill and a short tail. The upperparts are rufous-brown with broad blackish streaking; the supercilium is pale buff. The wings are bright rufous and very obvious in flight. The throat is white, the breast warm buff with heavy dark drops and streaks, the belly paler. There is no obvious crest. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Rufous-Naped Lark Corypha africana is slightly smaller, has a rufous nape and an erectile crest, and sings a whistled tsee-tseeoo; it lives more in woodland edge and open woodland. Flappet Lark Amirafra rufocinnamomea is smaller, more finely streaked on the breast and claps its wings in display. African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus is slimmer, with a thin bill and white outer tail feathers.
Habitat
Open, often seasonally wet grasslands on the high plateau: dambos, broad grassy plains between miombo and the edges of marshy depressions, usually with short to medium grass and scattered termite mounds.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
In the region: the central plateau and east of Angola (including Huambo, Bié, Malanje and Moxico) and north-western Zambia (Mwinilunga and the upper Zambezi). Beyond, only in south-eastern DR Congo and south-western Tanzania.
How and when to look
Best in the rainy season (November–March) when the males sing. The grasslands around Mwinilunga in Zambia and the high plains near Huambo in Angola are the most accessible sites. Scan termite mounds and grass tufts for a large, darkly streaked lark with bright rufous wings in flight.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species has a restricted but fairly large range and is locally common. Conversion of grassland to cultivation and too-frequent fires may cause local damage, but there is no evidence of a steep decline. The species is little studied.
Scientific name
Amirafra angolensis | (Bocage, 1880)
Bocage described the species in 1880 as Mirafra angolensis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Amirafra was introduced in 1906 by Bianchi. Amirafra combines the Greek negative prefix a-, 'not', with the genus Mirafra — larks no longer placed in Mirafra. angolensis means 'from Angola', where the first specimen was collected. The specimen the first description was based on came from Caconda, Angola.