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Gray's Lark | Ammomanopsis grayi
Namibleeuwerik | Alondra de Gray
Gray's Lark is the palest lark in southern Africa: a small, almost white bird that is nearly invisible on the bare gravel plains of the Namib until it moves. It is most active at twilight and often sings well before sunrise or even at night. Its range is limited to the Namib Desert.
Voice
A thin, high contact call, tsee-tsee, or a piercing whistle, tseeoo, on take-off. The song is a series of high, clear whistles and trills, mainly in the twilight before dawn and on moonlit nights, sometimes from the ground and sometimes in a short song flight.
Recording: Niall Perrins — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
14 cm. Upperparts pale sandy to almost white, with at most a hint of fine streaking on the crown and back; northern birds are the whitest, southern ones slightly warmer sandy-brown. Underparts pure white, without breast streaking. The head is rounded, with a large dark eye set in a pale eye-ring and no strong markings. The bill is short, rather pointed and pale horn. The tail is fairly short, with a dark terminal band and white outer feathers, well visible on take-off. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Stark's Lark Spizocorys starki, found on the same plains, has a small crest, a conical pink bill and fine streaking on back and breast. Dune Lark Calendulauda erythrochlamys lives in the red dunes, is larger, warm rufous-brown and finely streaked on the breast. Sclater's Lark Spizocorys sclateri has a dark teardrop below the eye and a heavy bill, and occurs further south. Tractrac Chat Emarginata tractrac is also pale but perches upright on shrublets and shows a white rump with a dark inverted T on the tail.
Habitat
Bare gravel and pebble plains with scattered stones and very sparse vegetation in the Namib, usually some distance from the coast and inland to the foot of the escarpment; avoids loose dunes. It runs fast over the ground, picking up seeds and insects. It can go a long time without free drinking water, obtaining moisture from food and fog.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Almost endemic to Namibia: across the gravel plains of the Namib from the Kunene in the north south to about the Lüderitz and Aus area. Beyond that only in the adjacent Namib of south-western Angola (Namibe province).
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search the gravel plains east of Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, or along the roads through Namib-Naukluft Park, preferably early in the morning. Drive slowly and watch for small pale birds running from the car; when still they are hardly visible against the ground. Before sunrise the high song gives them away.
Conservation status
Not threatened; the range is limited but the species is fairly common there and its habitat is largely uninhabited and undisturbed. Mining and off-road driving can damage the gravel plains locally.
Scientific name
Ammomanopsis grayi | (Wahlberg, 1855)
Wahlberg described the species in 1855 as Alauda grayi; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Ammomanopsis was introduced in 1904 by Bianchi. Ammomanopsis is Ammomanes (Greek ammos, 'sand', and -manēs, 'fond of') plus opsis, 'appearance' — a lark resembling the desert larks. grayi honours the English ornithologist John Edward Gray (1800–1875). The specimen the first description was based on came from Between the Kuiseb and Swakop rivers, Namibia.