Calandra Lark Call MP3s
Rich, sustained Melanocorypha calandra song recordings for birders and researchers covering Mediterranean steppe and farmland habitats.
Also known as
Recordings (4)
About this species
The Calandra Lark (Melanocorypha calandra) is a passerine songbird of around 19 cm — a large, robust lark with a black neck patch and a heavy pale bill. It inhabits open steppe, dry grassland and extensive arable plains.
The male delivers a rich, sustained song packed with mimicry, often in high song-flight. It takes small seeds and aquatic invertebrates sieved from the surface and shallow mud. The male sings in a high, circling song-flight over open steppe and grassland. Its voice is woven into the soundscape of the European countryside through spring and summer.
Legal use
The Calandra Lark breeds around the Mediterranean basin (notably Spain, southern France, Italy and North Africa) through Turkey and into southern Russia, and it is a protected species under the general regime of the EU Birds Directive in its EU range. Its song made it a popular cagebird historically, particularly in Spain and Italy, but capture and keeping of wild-caught birds is now restricted under current EU and national wildlife law. We have not verified any country where it is currently a legal game species; treat this recording as intended for birding, identification and research use. Because trapping and cagebird rules have shifted over time and enforcement varies locally, please check our full country-by-country disclaimer before any field use.