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Certhilauda brevirostris (Agulhas Long-billed lark)
Overberglangbeklewerik [Afrikaans]; Alouette d'Agulhas [French];
Cotovia-de-bico-comprido de Benguela [Portuguese]
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta
> Metazoa (animals) >
Bilateria >
Deuterostomia > Chordata >
Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) > Gnathostomata (jawed
vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned
fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial
vertebrates) > Tetrapoda
(four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Reptilia (reptiles) >
Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria >
Dinosauria
(dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) >
Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves
(birds) >
Order: Passeriformes > Family: Alaudidae
> Genus: Certhilauda
Distribution and habitat
Endemic to South Africa, only occurring in the Western
Cape's Agulhas Plain, from the Bot River to Caledon east to Mossel Bay. It
generally prefers recently ploughed fields, shrubland punctuated with
Renosterbos (Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis) and dwarf Karoo shrubland on
clay substrate. It avoids mountain fynbos, so its distribution is separated from
that of the Karoo and Cape long-billed larks by mountain ranges.
Food
It mainly eats insects supplemented with seeds, digging
with its bill to expose food items or pulling vegetation with its feet.
Breeding
- The nest is a cup of dry grass, lined with rootlets and fine leaves and
typically placed on the ground beneath a shrub.
- It lays 2-3 eggs, usually in the months from September-October.
Threats
Not threatened.
References
-
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts
- Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker
Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
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