Short-toed Lark

Calandrella cinerea (Gmelin, 1789)

Name in other languages

The Short-toed Lark is rare, in some places common in the steppes of the Minusinsk depression. The forest-steppe, where the species occurs locally, demarcates the northern limits of its range. It was reported breeding in the Abakan steppe as well as in the vicinity of Minusinsk (Sushkin 1914). K. A. Yudin (1952) discovered breeding birds in steppes along the Abakan River as well as in the Chulym River basin within Khakasia. On November 11, 1930, he shot a male which had joined a small flock of Tree Sparrows on the outskirts of Krasnoyarsk. The Short-toed Lark is a common breeder in densities of up to 10 birds/km² in the Koibal steppe, the area between the Yenisey and Abakan Rivers at 53°20' N (Bezborodov 1979). According to D.V. Vladyshevsky, the species was numerous in the Shira steppe in the vicinity of Solenoozernoye village in densities of up to 80 birds/km2. It is also abundant in the lyus forest-steppe where it occupies young forest plantations and hedgerows in densities of 20 and 18 birds/km2, respectively (Prokofyev pers. comm.). There is a single spring record from Mirnoye (mid taiga subzone) from June 13,1990.

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