IDENTITY:
Yellowishbrown above, streaked black; rich chestnut-rufous on wings, easily seen when bird in flight: pale white chin and throat, dull yellowish-brown below; blackish, triangular spots on breast. Pairs or small flocks; moves quietly on ground, running about or perching on small stones or bush tops; squats tight when approached but takes to wing when intruder very close; spectacular display flight, accompanied by singing, when breeding; indulges in display flights in the night too.
HABIT AND HABITED:
open cultivation, grass and scrub; fallow lands.
FOOD:
seeds, tiny insects.
VOICE:
ong is a tit-tit-tit, followed by long, drawn-out tsweeeih-tsweeeih-tsweeeih.
INFO:
The Indian bush lark (Mirafra erythroptera) is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found in South Asia.
The plumage of the Indian bush lark is pale and it has a cheek patch completely bounded by a white supercilium and post-auricular border. The crown and upper-parts are heavily streaked. The pale underparts have large spots on the breast. Most of its wing coverts, tertials and central tail feathers have pale centres. The primary coverts look all brown. The rufous wing bars are diagnostic but care must be taken not to confuse the bird with Jerdon's bush lark in the central Western Ghats and country around where their ranges overlap. Jerdon's bush lark is darker with more rufous on the wings.
It sings from bush tops but does not usually perch on trees or wires. The calls are similar to that of Jerdon's bush lark but are lower and have longer rattling tremolos often falling in pitch
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