Skylarks are omnivores that eat seeds and insects. Skylarks are known to eat weed seeds and waste grain. They also eat invertebrates such as beetles, caterpillars, spiders, millipedes, earthworms, and slugs. They forage on the ground, searching for food visually.
Animal Foods: insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods; mollusks; terrestrial worms
Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts
Primary Diet: omnivore
Small falcons (Falco) prey on adult skylarks, but these predators are not common. Nestlings and eggs are taken by ground-dwelling predators, such as foxes (Vulpes) and snakes (Serpentes). Humans used to prey upon these birds, capturing them in clap-nets and selling them. This greatly reduced their numbers, but the practice has since been prohibited in England. Skylarks are cryptically colored, helping to camouflage them as they search for prey on the ground.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: cryptic
The sexes are alike in the plumage, but males are slightly larger. Skylarks usually range in size from 18-19 cm. They have a wing-span of 30-36 cm. Females of the species can weight 17-47 g, while males can weigh 27-55 g. Their bills are short but strong. Skylarks generally have streaked black-brown plumage, some have a yellow or grey overall tone. Their underside is a buff-white. Skylarks have brown-streaked crown feathers that can be raised to a small crest.
Range mass: 17 to 55 g.
Range length: 18 to 19 cm.
Range wingspan: 30 to 36 mm.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; homoiothermic; bilateral symmetry
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger
Average basal metabolic rate: 0.722 W.
The annual mortality rate for adult skylarks was measured as 33.5% in England. One skylark was documented as living to 8 years 5 months old.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 10.2 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 10.1 years.
Skylarks live in areas of open country. They are generally found living in extensive croplands, marshes, or meadows. They prefer to live among cereal grasses or low green herbage. Skylarks avoid wooded areas, even areas with isolated trees seem to be unsuitable. Skylarks feed, nest, and do most other activities on the ground.
Range elevation: 1000 (high) m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland
Wetlands: marsh
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Skylarks are native to North Africa, Asia, and Europe. British populations do not migrate, but populations from eastern Asia migrate to southeastern China and populations in the eastern Palearctic migrate to the northern Mediterranean. Skylarks have been introduced to Australia, Canada, Hawaii, and New Zealand.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Introduced ); palearctic (Native ); australian (Introduced ); oceanic islands (Introduced ); pacific ocean (Introduced )
Skylarks eat pests such as caterpillars and weed seeds that are detrimental to crops.
Skylarks consume the seeds of weeds and detrimental plants as well as detrimental insects. This is advantageous to farmers.
Positive Impacts: controls pest population
Skylarks are known to ravage spring cabbage plants and consume corn and other crops cultivated by humans. The advantage of skylarks consuming pests and weed seeds outweighs the disadvantage of their taste for certain crops.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
The population size of skylarks introduced in North America is declining due to development in their habitats. Skylarks in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii are stable. In some areas agricultural practices, and loss of open grasslands and farmlands does threaten skylark populations.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Male skylarks are more vocal than females. Skylarks are known for the complex songs employed by males. Song flight usually begins with a silent ascent. When they reach an altitude of 50-100 m they begin to hover and circle over territory while continuing to sing. They then begin a spiral descent and cease to sing once 10-20 m are reached. The song itself consists of loud, trli or dji whistles in varying pitch patterns. Frequent repetition occurs as well as trills and tremolos with varying speed, pitch, length, and timbre. Skylarks may also sing on the ground with much the same singing pattern but often quieter, shorter, and consisting of more warbling and pauses.
Skylarks also communicate through a dry chirrup, prriee and prreet call.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Male skylarks sing throughout the day, starting in the dawn hours. The song is mostly heard February through July, but a more faint song can be heard throughout the rest of the year. They usually begin their song after flying into the air 10-20 m. They then progress to flying 50-100 m up, then slowly spiral down with periods of hovering in the air. This can proceed for 10-15 minutes. The song itself usually consists of singing trills and cadenzas along with babbling and mimicry. It is used as a display to attract females.
Skylarks pair early in the year between April and July. Courting may include high-speed chases in the air and their renowned singing behaviors. The birds are monogamous but only about half of mating pairs remain together after a year.
Mating System: monogamous ; cooperative breeder
Skylark nests are often found near short vegetation and consist of a shallow depression in the ground. The depression is lined with stems and leaves, and the inner part is lined with finer materials like hair. The nest is built primarily by the female, although the male may help to form the depression in the ground. Skylarks lay 3-4, sometimes 5, eggs.
Breeding interval: Skylarks breed once yearly.
Breeding season: Skylarks breed from April to July.
Range eggs per season: 3 to 5.
Range time to hatching: 11 to 15 days.
Average time to hatching: 11 days.
Range fledging age: 8 to 10 days.
Average time to independence: 25 days.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Average eggs per season: 3.
Females build the nest with little help from males. Once the young are hatched both parents care for them. Adults gather food for the young by making a pile of insects on the ground. When enough insects are collected, they are carried away to young and the soft parts are fed to them. Females incubate eggs for a period of 11-14 days. Both males and females protect the nest. Hatchlings leave the nest between 8-10 days after they hatch. Skylarks often have two, and sometimes three, broods each season.
Parental Investment: pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Protecting: Male, Female)
Winter visitor.
The Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) is a passerine bird in the lark family, Alaudidae. It is a widespread species found across Europe and the Palearctic with introduced populations in Australia, New Zealand and on the Hawaiian Islands. It is a bird of open farmland and heath, known for the song of the male, which is delivered in hovering flight from heights of 50 to 100 metres (160 to 330 ft). The sexes are alike. It is streaked greyish-brown above and on the breast and has a buff-white belly.
The female Eurasian skylark builds an open nest in a shallow depression on open ground well away from trees, bushes and hedges. She lays three to five eggs which she incubates for around 11 days. The chicks are fed by both parents but leave the nest after eight to ten days, well before they can fly. They scatter and hide in the vegetation but continue to be fed by the parents until they can fly at 18 to 20 days of age. Nests are subject to high predation rates by larger birds and small mammals. The parents can have several broods in a single season.
The Eurasian skylark was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae and retains its original binomial name of Alauda arvensis.[2] It is one of the four species placed in the genus Alauda.[3] The genus name is from the Latin alauda, "lark". Pliny thought the word was originally of Celtic origin. The specific arvensis is also Latin, and means "of the field".[4] The results of a molecular phylogenetic study of the lark family Alaudidae published in 2013 suggested that Eurasian skylark is most closely related to the Oriental skylark Alauda gulgula.[5]
Formerly, many authorities considered the Japanese skylark as a separate species. It is now usually considered a subspecies of the Eurasian skylark.[6] Alternate names for the Eurasian skylark include northern skylark and sky lark.[7]
Eleven subspecies are recognized:[3]
Some authorities recognise the subspecies A. a. scotia Tschusi, 1903 and A. a. guillelmi Witherby, 1921.[8] In the above list scotia is included in the nominate subspecies A. a. arvensis and guillelmi is included in A. a. sierrae.[3]
The Eurasian skylark is 18–19 cm (7.1–7.5 in) in length.[9] Like most other larks, the Eurasian skylark is a rather dull-looking species, being mainly brown above and paler below. It has a short blunt crest on the head, which can be raised and lowered. In flight it shows a short tail and short broad wings. The tail and the rear edge of the wings are edged with white, which are visible when the bird is flying away, but not if it is heading towards the observer. The male has broader wings than the female. This adaptation for more efficient hovering flight may have evolved because of female Eurasian skylarks' preference for males that sing and hover for longer periods and so demonstrate that they are likely to have good overall fitness.
It is known for the song of the male, which is delivered in hovering flight from heights of 50 to 100 m, when the singing bird may appear as just a dot in the sky from the ground. The long, unbroken song is a clear, bubbling warble delivered high in the air while the bird is rising, circling or hovering.[10] The song generally lasts two to three minutes, but it tends to last longer later in the mating season, when songs can last for 20 minutes or more. At wind farm sites, male skylarks have been found to sing at higher frequencies as a result of wind turbine noise.[11]
This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range, many birds move to lowlands and the coast in winter. Asian birds, subspecies A. a. pekinensis, appear as vagrants in Alaska.[12]
In the 19th century multiple batches of Eurasian skylarks were released in New Zealand beginning in 1864 in Nelson (in the South Island) and in 1867 in Auckland (in the North Island). The wild population increased rapidly and had spread throughout both the North and South Islands by the 1920s.[13][14]
In Australia the Eurasian skylark was introduced on multiple occasions beginning in 1850.[14] It is now widespread in the southeast of the continent. In New South Wales it mostly occurs south of 33°S. It is widespread throughout Victoria and Tasmania and also occurs in the south-eastern corner of South Australia around Adelaide.[15]
The Eurasian skylark was introduced to the southeastern Hawaiian Islands beginning in 1865. Although once common, it has declined in abundance on Oahu and is no longer found on Kauai. A study published in 1986 found European skylarks remained only on the islands of Hawaii and Maui and estimated a total population of 10,000 individuals.[16][17]
The Eurasian skylark was introduced to Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada in 1903; additional birds were introduced in 1913.[18] The population grew and by 1962 there were around 1000 individuals.[19] The numbers have subsequently declined due to loss of habitat, and in 2007 there were estimated to be only around 100 individuals spread over four small areas of the Saanich Peninsula.[20][21]
Eurasian skylarks first breed when they are one year of age. Nesting may start in late March or early April. The nest is probably built by the female alone and is a shallow depression in the ground lined with grasses. The clutch is 3 to 5 eggs. The eggs of the nominate subspecies average 23.4 mm × 16.8 mm (0.92 in × 0.66 in) in size and weigh around 3.35 g (0.118 oz). They have a grey-white or greenish background and are covered in brown or olive spots. They are incubated only by the female beginning after the last egg is laid and hatch synchronously after 11 days.[22] The altricial young are cared for by both parents and for the first week are fed almost exclusively on insects.[23] The nestlings fledge after 18 to 20 days but they usually leave the nest after 8 to 10 days. They are independent of their parents after around 25 days. The parents can have up to 4 broods in a season.[22]
The Eurasian skylark walks over the ground searching for food on the soil surface. Its diet consists of insects and plant material such as seeds and young leaves. Unlike a finch (family Fringillidae) it swallows seeds without removing the husk. Insects form an important part of the diet in summer.[24]
In the UK, Eurasian skylark numbers have declined over the last 30 years, as determined by the Common Bird Census started in the early 1960s by the British Trust for Ornithology. As of 2017, they were estimated to have declined across the UK by 4-10% over the last 10 years, and by 6-28% over the last 22-25 years.[25] The RSPB have shown that this large decline is mainly due to changes in farming practices and only partly due to pesticides. In the past cereals were planted in the spring, grown through the summer and harvested in the early autumn. Cereals are now planted in the autumn, grown through the winter and are harvested in the early summer. The winter grown fields are much too dense in summer for the Eurasian skylark to be able to walk and run between the wheat stems to find its food.
A list of conservation interventions that could impact the species was published by the RSPB.[26] English farmers are now encouraged and paid to maintain and create biodiversity for improving the habitat for Eurasian skylarks. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship Scheme offers 5 and 10-year grants for various beneficial options. For example, there is an option where the farmer can opt to grow a spring cereal instead of a winter one, and leave the stubble untreated with pesticide over the winter. The British Trust for Ornithology likens the stubbles to "giant bird tables" – providing spilt grain and weed seed to foraging birds.[27]
When the word "lark" is used without specification, it usually refers to this species.[28] A collective noun for Eurasian skylarks is an "exaltation". Although the Oxford English Dictionary describes this usage as "fanciful", it traces it back to a quotation from John Lydgate dating from about 1430.[29] The verb "skylark", originally used by sailors, means "play tricks or practical jokes; indulge in horseplay, frolic". The verb and noun "lark", with similar meaning, may be related to "skylark" or to the dialect word "laik" (New Shorter OED).
The bird is the subject of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley (To a Skylark), George Meredith (The Lark Ascending), Ted Hughes (Skylarks), and numerous others; and of pieces of music including The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams (inspired by the eponymous poem). It is also the bird emblem of Kumamoto Prefecture.[30] The Skylark of Space is a series of four science fiction novels by E.E. "Doc" Smith.
The Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) is a passerine bird in the lark family, Alaudidae. It is a widespread species found across Europe and the Palearctic with introduced populations in Australia, New Zealand and on the Hawaiian Islands. It is a bird of open farmland and heath, known for the song of the male, which is delivered in hovering flight from heights of 50 to 100 metres (160 to 330 ft). The sexes are alike. It is streaked greyish-brown above and on the breast and has a buff-white belly.
The female Eurasian skylark builds an open nest in a shallow depression on open ground well away from trees, bushes and hedges. She lays three to five eggs which she incubates for around 11 days. The chicks are fed by both parents but leave the nest after eight to ten days, well before they can fly. They scatter and hide in the vegetation but continue to be fed by the parents until they can fly at 18 to 20 days of age. Nests are subject to high predation rates by larger birds and small mammals. The parents can have several broods in a single season.
