71 : Short-toed Lark

Short-toed Lark - Calandrella brachydactyla

I went for an afternoon at the Pivot Fields last Saturday afternoon and was lucky enough to bump into a small party of birders from the Emirates Naturalist Group being led on an organised day by a "local'' birder Neil Tovey. Neil kindly offered for me to join and tag along and I hopped into his car for a drive around the Pivot fields. Larks, Pippits and Wagtails are not really my thing as I have not put in the time really studying birds. I will have to ! So it was an education as well as being fun and its good to feel the enthusiasm that people have when you bird in a group. The Pivot Fields is a place where turf is grown commercially in Dubai and obviously as it sits on a flyway across the desert on migration it is a mini-Mecca for birds and birders.

I have a number of pictures of dots I need to blow up sort and post. I started with the Sociable Plover and Northern Wheatear. This Short-toed Lark is a bird I have not identified before. Its distinguished from skylark by a small distinct dark neck patch which if you blow up this pícture you can make out. There is also no "primary projection"of the very end wing feathers which would take it into Lesser Short-toed Lark territory. It is smaller than a skylark and lacks the beading on its front. Its bill is more conical and finch like. It has a clear row of markings on the covert feathers like a small row of squares. Unfortunatley you have to take care as there other overlapping Larks that have to be sorted out ! On this day there weer two other species of Larks flitting about.

The trick will be when I see a Lark myself and have to make the call which I need feel a bit more confident to do. I was bought a small spotting scope for Xmas that I will be able to hide clamp on the car - A long fast lens would again be useful !

Adventures in identification of little brown jobs.

Short-toed Lark - Calandrella brachydactala
Pivot Fields, Dubai, UAE
25 February 2012