Species: Eremophila alpestris
Horned Lark
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Alaudidae
Genus
Eremophila
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Alondra Cornuda - alouette hausse-col
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Alaudidae - Eremophila - (Przewalski's Lark) of China (AOU 1998). Horned Lark subspecies and patterns of geographic variation are in need of review (see Beason 1995).
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - true - true - Populations from breeding areas north of southern Canada are migratory. Migratory populations generally leave nonbreeding range by end of April (Terres 1980). Arrives in northernmost breeding areas in May, remains into September.
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Eats mainly seeds and, in warm season, insects; food obtained mainly from ground surface.
Reproduction Comments
Egg laying occurs early to mid-June at northern end of range. Clutch size 2-7 (commonly 4). One brood annually at higher latitudes and elevations, 2 or possibly 3 at lower ones. Incubation 10-14 days, by female. Young tended by both parents, leave nest at 9-12 days. No accurate estimates of longevity/generation time; mean time between banding and recovery for birds banded as first-year birds is 2.6 years (Beason 1995).
Ecology Comments
Breeding density 1.3-1.5 individuals/ha in shadscale habitat in eastern Nevada (Medin 1990). Territory size varies with habitat and population density; ranges from means of 3.5 ha in higher latitude heath (Cannings and Threlfall 1981) and 1.6 ha in the agricultural Midwest (Beason and Franks 1974), to a range of 0.3-14 ha in Colorado shorgrass prairie (Boyd 1976).
Length
18
Weight
32
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-12-02
Global Status Last Changed
1996-12-02
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: northernmost North America south to southern Baja California, southern Mexico, Louisiana, northern Alabama, and North Carolina, and in South America in eastern Andes of Colombia (Cundinamarca and Boyaca). NORTHERN WINTER: southern Canada south through breeding range, and, locally and irregularly to Gulf Coast and Florida. Also occurs in Old World (AOU 1983).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)