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Large-Billed Lark | Galerida magnirostris
Grootsnavelleeuwerik | Cogujada Picogorda
Large-Billed Lark is a large, heavily streaked lark with a short crest and a thick bill with a yellow base. Its song, a creaky, squeaky ditty that sounds like an unoiled gate, is one of the familiar sounds of the Karoo and the renosterveld. The species is almost confined to South Africa, Lesotho and the far south of Namibia.
Voice
The song, from a bush, post or stone or in a short display flight, is a characteristic creaky, squeaky whistle, trrree-trrreeelee or sree-trrreeee, likened to a rusty hinge. The call is a short, dry chrrt. It sings all year but most in the breeding season, which in the west falls in winter and early spring.
Recording: Ehren Eksteen — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
17–18 cm. Large and heavily built, with a short tail, a short, ragged crest and a heavy, slightly curved bill whose lower mandible is yellow to horn at the base. The upperparts are grey-brown with broad dark streaks; the head is streaked, with a pale supercilium and a dark malar stripe. The underparts are white to pale buff with heavy, sharp dark streaks on the breast and flanks. The wings are brown, without rufous. Sexes alike; juveniles are more spotted and have a smaller bill.
Confusion species
Karoo Lark Calendulauda albescens is smaller, with a finer bill, a broader white supercilium and rufous-brown upperparts, and sings differently. Spike-Heeled Lark Chersomanes albofasciata has a long, curved bill, a white throat and a very short, white-tipped tail. Cape Long-Billed Lark Certhilauda curvirostris and Karoo Long-Billed Lark Certhilauda subcoronata are slimmer, with a long, thin, curved bill and a whistled display flight. Red Lark Calendulauda burra of the red dunes of Bushmanland is rufous-red above.
Habitat
Renosterveld, wheatfields and fallow land in the south-west, dry dwarf shrubland of the Succulent and Nama Karoo, and high-altitude grassland in Lesotho and the eastern highlands. It often uses the margins of roads, fields and pastures. It forages on the ground for seeds and insects, digging with its heavy bill.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of southern Africa.
Range and movements
Near-endemic to South Africa and Lesotho: in the Western Cape (especially the Overberg, the Swartland and Namaqualand), the Northern Cape, the western and southern Karoo, the Eastern Cape and the highlands of Lesotho and the adjacent Free State. Also in the far south of Namibia, along the Orange River. Not known outside the region.
- Resident
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Drive through the wheatfields of the Overberg or the Swartland and watch for larks on fence posts and along the verge; the song is often the first sign. In the Karoo it sings from a roadside bush. Look for the yellow bill base and the heavy breast streaks; the song is unmistakable once learned.
Conservation status
Not threatened; common over most of its range. The species benefits from wheatfields in the south-west, but conversion of renosterveld and overgrazing in the Karoo can be locally harmful.
Scientific name
Galerida magnirostris | (Stephens, 1826)
Stephens described the species in 1826 as Alauda magnirostris; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Galerida was introduced in 1828 by Boie. Galerida is Latin for a crested lark, from galerum 'cap', after the upright crest. magnirostris comes from the Latin magnus, 'large', and rostrum, 'bill' — for the heavy bill. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cape Town, South Africa (after Levaillant).