Galerida cristata
Silhouette: Gossipguy and T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The crested lark (Galerida cristata) is a species of lark widespread across Eurasia and northern Africa. It is a non-migratory bird, but can occasionally be found as a vagrant in Great Britain. The crested lark was one of the many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It was classified in the genus Alauda until German naturalist Friedrich Boie placed it in the new genus Galerida in 1821. Colin Harrison recommended lumping members of Galerida and Lullula back into Alauda in 1865 due to a lack of defining characteristics. The current scientific name is derived from Latin. Galerida was the name for a lark with a crest, from galerum, "cap", and cristata means "crested". Alban Guillaumet and colleagues noted the distinctiveness of populations from the Maghreb—birds in the dryer parts of Morocco and Tunisia had longer bills while those in more coastal northern parts had shorter bills typical of the European subspecies. The authors sampled the mitochondrial DNA and found they were distinct genetically. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 2 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 5 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 6 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 8 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 10 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Lark sighting in Madrid on a given day, based on 533 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 77th most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–May and September–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Lark in Madrid on a given day, against under 5% in June–August and November–March, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crested Lark sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
24th of 42
Of the 42 cities where we can rate Crested Lark sightings, Madrid ranks 24th at under 5%. The best odds are in Antalya (Turkey, about 50%), Manama (Bahrain, about 50%) and Karaj (Iran, about 40%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crested Lark is recorded against all the birds logged in Madrid (533 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
