David Element
Wildlife
Photography and Digital Video Images
____________________________________________________________________________________________ Birds
128 – American Horned Larks
AMERICAN HORNED LARK Eremophila alpestris alpestris
AMERICAN HORNED LARK Eremophila alpestris alpestris
·
The
American Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris alpestris
is something of a rarity in the UK. 'Horned Lark' is the recently adopted Gill
& Donsker (2012)/IOC International English Name
for the Shore Lark E. alpestris.
This bird is an uncommon winter visitor to the British Isles with an average of
fewer than 100 sightings per annum but the reason why this particular
individual had been of great interest when it was discovered at a well-known
reservoir was that the field characteristics were consistent with one of the
American races/subspecies E. a. alpestris, indicating that it had originated from the
other side of the Atlantic. In particular the markings above each eye were
white rather than yellow as would be anticipated in typical examples. The only
definitive method of obtaining an unequivocal classification (if there is such
a thing) was DNA analysis. Fortunately a shed feather was located and DNA
analysis has indeed proven Nearctic origin - a western race). There is an
informed discussion about the classification of this species at: https://www.hbw.com/species/horned-lark-eremophila-alpestris.
·
David’s
short film of the American Horned Lark
may be seen at: https://youtu.be/ttEu5LP8Jgk - much of the soundtrack consists of numerous
clicks from adjacent camera motor-drives as this bird had attracted a lot of
attention so the film is rather short! There must be many virtually identical
images of this bird out there.
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