Species: Eremophila alpestris strigata
Streaked Horned Lark
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
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This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Alaudidae
Genus
Eremophila
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
alouette hausse-col strigata
Informal Taxonomy
<p>Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds</p>
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Alaudidae - Eremophila - Horned lark subspecies and patterns of geographic variation are in need of review (see Beason 1995). Genetic data for horned larks from the Puget Trough, coastal Washington, the lower Columbia River, Alaska, alpine Washington (Cascades but not the Olympic Mountains), eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and California indicate that the streaked horned lark is unique, isolated, and has little genetic diversity (Drovetski et al. 2005).
Ecology and Life History
Migration
<p>true - true - false - Available evidence suggests that birds in the Puget lowlands are migrating south for the winter (Pearson and Altman 2005); multiple observations of banded birds throughout the winter in the Willamette Valley, Columbia River and on the Washington Coast suggest that some of these birds are staying in these regions throughout the winter (Pearson and Altman 2005).</p>
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5T2
Global Status Last Reviewed
2008-07-10
Global Status Last Changed
2005-11-08
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=SX&US.OR=S2&US.WA=S1" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
F - 20,000-200,000 square km (about 8000-80,000 square miles) - F - This subspecies historically bred in prairie and open coastal habitats from the southwestern corner of British Columbia (southeastern Vancouver Island, lower Fraser River Valley) through the Puget trough and Willamette Valley (as far south as Eugene, Oregon) and into the Rogue River Valley (from Medford north to Eagle Point) (COSEWIC 2003, Pearson and Altman 2005, Environment Canada 2007); it was also found on open coastal habitats in western Washington (see Pearson and Altman 2005). U.S. and Candian surveys indicate that this subspecies currently breeds on prairie remnants (n = 2) and airports (n = 4) in the southern Puget lowlands, on beaches and accreted lands near Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay (n = 4), on dredge spoil islands in the Columbia River (n = 6), an industrial site along the lower Columbia River in Oregon, and on a number of agricultural, pasture, grass, and mudflat habitats in the Willamette Valley from Portland to Eugene (Pearson and Altman 2005); in addition, it has been reported as an irregular breeder on the south jetty of the Columbia River (M. Patterson, pers. comm., cited by Pearson and Altman 2005).<br><br>Recent surveys found most birds wintering in the Willamette Valley (Robinson and Moore 2005), with fewer birds on Columbia River islands and its floodplain, the Washington coast, and on a Puget Sound airport and prairie (see Pearson and Altman 2005). In addition, some may winter on the southern Oregon coast (Coos County; subspecies unknown but may be <i>strigata</i>) (and irregularly on the northern Oregon coast) (see Pearson and Altman 2005).<br><br>A rough estimate of range extent is 85,000 square kilometers.<br>
Global Range Code
F
Global Range Description
20,000-200,000 square km (about 8000-80,000 square miles)