Description:

Medium-sized, rather bulky lark with prominent long, spiky crest and rather long bill. Sandy upperparts and well-streaked breast; broad, rounded wings, rufous-buff underwing-coverts and outer tail feathers. From Skylarks by larger size and erect crest, broader rounded wings, rufous-buff outer tail feathers and underwing.

Distribution:

Common resident in the lower elevation areas of Gilgit and Diamer districts. Typically occurs in dry plains with sparse vegetation cover and dry cultivations, often near villages. A lowland bird, usually avoiding mountain areas, rarely above 1800m.

Behavior:

Forages on ground, singly or in pairs; outside breeding season also in small groups, sometimes with other alaudids. Food includes invertebrates, seeds and green material; mainly invertebrates in spring-summer and seeds during autumn-winter. Very wide assortment of invertebrates taken. Seeds mainly those of weeds, but also cereal grain.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Crested Lark in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Crested Lark

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.