BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Eremophila alpestris
Horned Lark
| Scientific Name: | Eremophila alpestris (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Horned Lark | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-HOLA | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Apr 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S3S5 (Mar 2022) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Blue | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Egg laying occurs early to mid-June at northern end of range. Clutch size 2-7 (commonly 4). One brood annually at higher latitudes and elevations, 2 or possibly 3 at lower ones. Incubation 10-14 days, by female. Young tended by both parents, leave nest at 9-12 days. No accurate estimates of longevity/generation time; mean time between banding and recovery for birds banded as first-year birds is 2.6 years (Beason 1995). | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | Breeding density 1.3-1.5 individuals/ha in shadscale habitat in eastern Nevada (Medin 1990). Territory size varies with habitat and population density; ranges from means of 3.5 ha in higher latitude heath (Cannings and Threlfall 1981) and 1.6 ha in the agricultural Midwest (Beason and Franks 1974), to a range of 0.3-14 ha in Colorado shorgrass prairie (Boyd 1976). | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / Y / Y / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | Populations from breeding areas north of southern Canada are migratory. Migratory populations generally leave nonbreeding range by end of April (Terres 1980). Arrives in northernmost breeding areas in May, remains into September. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Agriculture / Cultivated Field / Unknown
Agriculture / Hedgerow / Unknown Agriculture / Pasture/Old Field / Unknown Alpine/Tundra / Krummholtz / Unknown Alpine/Tundra / Tundra / Unknown Anthropogenic / Urban/Suburban / Unknown Grassland/Shrub / Grassland / Unknown Grassland/Shrub / Meadow / Unknown Other Unique Habitats / Alkali Ponds/Salt Flats / Unknown Other Unique Habitats / Beach / Unknown Other Unique Habitats / Estuary / Unknown Other Unique Habitats / Sand Dune / Unknown Rock/Sparsely Vegetated Rock / Rock/Sparsely Vegetated Rock / Unknown |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Grassland, tundra, sandy regions, areas with scattered low shrubs, desert playas, grazed pastures, stubble fields, open cultivated areas, and rarely open areas in forest (AOU 1983). Nests in hollow on ground often next to grass tuft or clod of earth or manure. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Granivore: Adult, Immature
Invertivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Eats mainly seeds and, in warm season, insects; food obtained mainly from ground surface. | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 18/ / 32 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | BREEDS: northernmost North America south to southern Baja California, southern Mexico, Louisiana, northern Alabama, and North Carolina, and in South America in eastern Andes of Colombia (Cundinamarca and Boyaca). NORTHERN WINTER: southern Canada south through breeding range, and, locally and irregularly to Gulf Coast and Florida. Also occurs in Old World (AOU 1983). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | HAMMERSON, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Mar 22, 1994 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
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Bent, A.C. 1942. Life histories of North American flycatchers, larks, swallows, and their allies. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 179. Washington, DC. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp. |
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Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp. |
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Medin, D. E. 1990. Birds of a shadscale (ATRIPLEX CONFERTIFOLIA) habitat in east central Nevada. Great Basin Nat. 50:295-298. |
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Pickwell, G.B. 1931. The prairie horned lark. 153 pp. |
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Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 2001. 30 October 2001. Review of plant and animal species that are Candidates or proposed for listing as Endangered or Threatened, annual notice of findings on recycled petitions, and annual description of progress on listing actions; proposed rule. Federal Register 66(210):54808-54832. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1994. Species Summary: Eremophila alpestris. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Apr 3, 2026).