Calandra Lark

• GeneralA great mimic: it works the calls of other steppe birds into its own song.
• It has an extraordinary facility for imitating the songs of other birds, and the males are far more skilled than the females.
• Its courtship dance consists of gliding slowly with the wings held at an angle and the tail well spread, singing as it rises and falls.
• Its name comes from the Greek kalandros, the name the ancients gave to this very bird.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat and environment

Cereal steppe and dry farmland plains

Birth weight

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Size at birth

Altricial: born blind, naked or with sparse down and entirely dependent

Sexual maturity

1 year

Gestation / incubation

11-12 days of incubation

Litter / clutch size

It builds its nest sheltered in small shrubs or among cereal crops, from twigs and grass, and rarely in the open

Sources consulted: IUCN Red List · SEO/BirdLife (programa Sacre y campaña sobre aves agrarias) · Wikipedia (Melanocorypha calandra) · Anexo Aves de España · Linnaeus 1766 · Boie 1828

Best time: The mating season, when the males sing almost all day

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.