Description:

Medium-sized, fairly stout lark with shortish bill, relatively long tail and short erectile crest. Upperparts are paler sandy-brown and underparts whiter. Larger than Oriental Skylark, although very similar with slight crest. Told from that species by longer tail, noticeable extension of primaries beyond tertials on closed wing.

Distribution:

Common passage migrant and winter visitor all across Gilgit-Baltistan. Generally associated with cultivation and grassland, but also occurs on meadows, steppe, edges of marshes, dunes, even extensive forest clearings, from lowlands to 3500m.

Behavior:

Forages on the ground. Walks and runs; foraging almost entirely of picking items from ground surface, but digging, uprooting of plants, picking items from plants. Diet includes small invertebrates and seeds, also other plant material. Wide range of invertebrates taken, especially insect larvae, beetles, grasshoppers, moths, spiders, flies and aphids, also worms, molluscs.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Eurasian Skylark in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Eurasian Skylark

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.