Habitat and ecology
This species inhabits dry plains with sparse vegetation cover and dry cultivations. It may originally have inhabited warm semi-desert and steppe landscapes but it has also adapted to human-modified landscapes, such as open farmed countryside in the northern Mediterranean Basin and alpha (Stipa tenacissima) steppe and deserts in North Africa and the Middle East, and sandy semi-desert and dry cultivations in India, also forest clearings and savanna in the Afrotropics.
Identification
Medium sized lark with a prominent crest. Separated from the more range-restricted Thekla’s Lark by longer bill with straight lower mandible and usually longer and spikier crest. Lots of variation in plumage color, which matches local soil types, but usually grayer and darker than Eurasian Skylark. Short tail and rust-tinged underwings obvious in flight. Found in dry areas with scarce vegetation, especially agricultural land and at roadsides. Song is an often magnificently long and highly impressive series of varied jumbled twitters, trills, warbles, and slurred notes. Often gives a plaintive “ch’wee.”
