Typical song-flight for this rare Central Asian species. During our weeks in Turkmenistan we encountered Oriental Skylark, at few places where suitable habitats were present: agricultural fields. Here numerous, sometimes joined by few Crested Larks.
In general surprisingly few larks both in numbers and species in Turkmenistan. We observed localized Common Skylark (Alauda arvensis) and Woodlarks (Lullula arborea) in Kopet Dag Mnts. Most common were Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) along roads, in villages and agricultural land.
Oriental Skylark shows distinct jizz during song-flight: Broad-winged, short-tailed and “CLOSED-tailed” – quite different from e.g. Common Skylark and similar the jizz of the Woodlark.
Song: Fast as Common Skylark, but drier and without rolling whistling notes, typically performed during song-flight, where the bird seems “fixed” at same spot for minutes. When it initiates song-flight, it rise fast and high above the ground, where it sings for minutes, before descending slowly and in loops with stretched neck to the ground – few meters before it lands, it stops singing.
Photo not quite satisfactory technical quality, but I have found great pleasure in Canons PowerShot-series in recent years. The fair prized and non-heavy size makes it an ideal travel fellow in the fields, and when the birds are perched the image quality can be amazing, which makes one doubt whether it’s worth waiting and spending so many money for a new Canon prime…
English version