Larks (Alaudidae) - HBW 9
Red-capped Lark (Calandrella cinerea)
French: Alouette cendrille
German: Rotkappenlerche
Spanish: Terrera Capirotada
Other common names: African Short-toed/Rufous Short-toed Lark
Taxonomy: Alauda cinerea J. F. Gmelin, 1789, no locality = Cape Town, South Africa.
May form a superspecies with C. brachydactyla, C. blanfordi, C. erlangeri and C. acutirostris; often considered conspecific with first three (especially C. blanfordi and C. erlangeri). Geographical variation among many contiguous races limited and broadly clinal; further study may demonstrate that several taxa are not sustainable. Additional named races are ongumaensis (N Namibia), synonymized with spleniata, witputzi (S Namibia), included in nominate, and vagilans (E Botswana and NE South Africa), included in niveni.. View all taxonomy...
May form a superspecies with C. brachydactyla, C. blanfordi, C. erlangeri and C. acutirostris; often considered conspecific with first three (especially C. blanfordi and C. erlangeri). Geographical variation among many contiguous races limited and broadly clinal; further study may demonstrate that several taxa are not sustainable. Additional named races are ongumaensis (N Namibia), synonymized with spleniata, witputzi (S Namibia), included in nominate, and vagilans (E Botswana and NE South Africa), included in niveni; also, description of anderssoni (C Namibia) apparently based on worn non-breeding specimen of nominate. Eight subspecies tentatively recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution:
- saturatior Reichenow, 1904 - Nigeria (Jos Plateau), and DRCongo E to Uganda and W & SW Tanzania, S to Angola (except NW & S), N Zambia and Malawi.
- williamsi Clancey, 1952 - S Kenya and N Tanzania.
- spleniata (Strickland, 1853) - SW Angola and NW Namibia.
- saturatior Reichenow, 1904 - Nigeria (Jos Plateau), and DRCongo E to Uganda and W & SW Tanzania, S to Angola (except NW & S), N Zambia and Malawi.
- williamsi Clancey, 1952 - S Kenya and N Tanzania.
- spleniata (Strickland, 1853) - SW Angola and NW Namibia.
- fulvida Clancey, 1978 - S Angola, S Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- alluvia Clancey, 1971 - breeds coastal S Mozambique; disperses inland to N Botswana.
- millardi Paterson, 1958 - S Botswana.
- cinerea (J. F. Gmelin, 1789) - S Namibia and W South Africa.
- niveni (Macdonald, 1952) - E South Africa.
- Least Concern
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A bird feeding on the ground and flying away Nairobi, Kenya (ssp williamsi)
Josep del Hoyo 22 November 2005 4 years ago 22 sec 3.5 -
A bird drinking in a pond Puffodder, South Africa (ssp niveni)
Helmut Schenkel Br... 31 December 2000 2 years ago 11 sec 3.4 -
A bird standing on bare ground Nata, Botswana (ssp saturatior)
Keith Blomerley 5 January 2007 2 years ago 18 sec 3.3 -
An adult on a rock Etosha National Park, Kunene Region, Namibia (ssp spleniata)
Christian Boix Hin... 28 February 2003 6 years ago 6 sec 2.4
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a bird on the ground Amboseli National Park, Kenya (ssp saturatior)
Stefan Helming 28 December 2009 10 weeks ago 3.7 -
A bird on the ground Etosha National Park, Kunene Region, Namibia
Aleix Comas 26 August 2007 15 weeks ago 3
- No sound recordings available yet
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