The Lark: The Vineyard’s Splendid Soprano

By Jose Luis Gallego, environmental communicator (@ecogallego)
 

Along the paths that run through our rural fields and meadows, we are treated to some of the most beautiful birdsong. Among the most remarkable, for its melodic power and variety, is the song of the lark – considered by many to be the greatest soprano of all songbirds. 

The variety of its melodies, sung even in flight, stands in stark contrast to its somewhat plain plumage with cryptic colouring (sandy, toasted, cream, clay hues) to match the soil and provide camouflage. Larks prefer open meadows where, in the absence of trees or bushes in which to seek refuge, blending into the surroundings is a must to elude the keen gaze of raptors like hawks and kites, their primary predators. 

Squat and stocky in appearance, larks have brownish feathers on their wings and back: a blend of earthy and toasted brown tones, faintly streaked on the back. From the neck, cream-coloured stripes lead down to a white chest. On the back of its head, the lark sports a small crest with brown stripes. When the bird perches atop the bushes lining rural paths, its back against the wind, the crest stands upright. 

A lark perched on a twig 

The crest, which isn’t always upright, is a distinctive trait that can help us differentiate the lark from other Alaudidae (the family of songbirds that larks belong to) with which it shares its territory, such as crested larks, short-toed larks, woodlarks or calandra larks. The lark has a medium-sized tail with two completely white outer tail feathers.  Its bill is short and thin. Its eyes, small and black. Larks are about 18 centimetres long and weigh around 40 grams.   

When they take to the air, which they aren’t particularly fond of doing, they beat their short wings continuously, revealing a very distinctive flight pattern: wave-like and marked with intermittent stops in midair, which the lark uses to keep singing what is considered, as mentioned before, one of the most beautiful birdsongs in nature.

Remember, birds don’t have vocal cords but a syrinx: a flexible vocal organ similar to a plastic balloon, located at the base of the windpipe, which vibrates when air passes through it. What is most astonishing about this exclusively avian organ is that certain species – our protagonist included – can produce various sounds simultaneously on just one breath of air, thereby producing such gorgeous melodies.

A common denizen of high moorlands, crop fields, meadows, and wetlands, larks feed on insects, making them very beneficial to farmers as a form of biological pest control. They also eat wild plant seeds and cereal grains, which is why they spend much of their day picking at the ground, half-hidden among the stubble fields thanks to their cryptic colouring.

The mating season lasts from early spring until midsummer, and, if the circumstances are right, larks can lay up to four clutches of up to half a dozen eggs. They tend to build their nests directly on the ground with very little material: a handful of dry twigs and some feathers collected in the fields. Most of the time, larks choose to nest in the middle of crop fields, displaying a preference for grain fields and vineyards. 

Larks are common and widely distributed across the fields, plateaus, and steppes of the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula. They are less numerous in the south and southeast and not found on the Canary or Balearic Islands.  

In terms of their conservation status, the species, like all others closely linked to farmland, is seeing its numbers dwindle. This is due to the increase in and spread of irrigated monocultures, the industrialization of farming, and the excessive use of agrochemicals. According to the census count provided by the programme tracking common reproductive birds (SACRE) coordinated by SEO/Birdlife, lark populations have seen a 35% decline, earning the bird a classification as a vulnerable species in the Libro Rojo de las Aves de España. 

The chances of seeing lark populations recover resides precisely in restoring good farming practices and promoting regenerative agriculture. This farming approach is based on the coexistence of crops and the natural environment, the sustainable use of natural resources, the regeneration of soil fertility, and the fomenting of biodiversity. This is the only way in which we will be able to enjoy, in the long term, the extraordinary melodies of this unassuming little bird: the splendid soprano of the fields.