Birdpass
English
Crested Lark

Crested Lark

Galerida cristata

Identify the Crested Lark by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The Crested Lark is a widespread, non-migratory lark of Eurasia and North Africa, recognised by its spiky crest and rusty underwings in flight. Stockier and shorter-tailed than the Skylark, it often raises its crest when singing and displaying. It is a familiar bird of dry, open landscapes, roadsides and the edges of towns, though it has declined in parts of northern Europe.

Did you know?

  • Its scientific name, Galerida cristata, simply means “crested lark”.
  • It readily lives right among people, on waste ground and car parks.

Voice

Sound

About the species

Identification

A grey-brown lark with a clear, pointed crest, slightly larger and longer-billed than Skylark. The outer tail feathers are buff (white in Skylark) and the underwing rusty brown. The sexes look alike.

Family

Alaudidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

brown, white, grey

About the habitat

Dry, open country – roadsides, cereal fields and sandy patches around railways, docks, airfields and industrial sites; it often nests on waste ground on the outskirts of towns.

Diet

Mainly seeds, supplemented by small invertebrates, especially insects in the breeding season.

Behaviour

A strong songster that sings from the ground, a rooftop or high in the air, with an undulating flight. It raises its crest in territorial and courtship displays, nests in a shallow ground scrape and usually raises two broods a year.

Sources

Photo: El Golli Mohamed, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cochevis huppé Gbollat.jpg

Sound: Vasileia Seferiadou , XC1059081, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/1059081

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crested_lark

See also