Larks (Alaudidae)

Pink-breasted Lark (Calendulauda poecilosterna) - HBW 9, p. 558

French: Alouette à poitrine rose German: Fahlbrustlerche Spanish: Alondra Pechirrosa

Taxonomy: Alauda poecilosterna Reichenow, 1879, Kibaradja, Tana River, Kenya.
Formerly placed in genus Mirafra, and suggested as forming a superspecies with M. rufa and M. gilletti; genetic data, however, indicate that it belongs in the Calendulauda clade. Geographical variation in plumage tone, darkest and richest in S; birds from extreme N of range (SE Sudan E to S Somalia) described as race australoabyssinica and others from rest of range (except N & E Kenya) as massaica, but differences minimal, and naming of races considered unwarranted. Monotypic.

Distribution: Extreme SE Sudan and S Ethiopia E to S Somalia, S to NE Uganda, much of Kenya and NE Tanzania.