Galerida cristata
Silhouette: Gossipguy and T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
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.
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 2 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 5 | Saloum Delta National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 6 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 7 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 8 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 10 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 11 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 12 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 15 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal |
Very likely
About 80% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Lark sighting in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, based on 140 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 6th most-seen of the 173 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to April
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Crested Lark in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary on a given day, against about 60% in December, the lowest month. Those are among Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary's driest months, with almost no rain against 55 mm in August. May to October have too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Crested Lark sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Crested Lark sightings, Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary has the highest daily chance: about 80%. Next come Doñana National Park (Spain, about 40%) and Monfragüe National Park (Spain, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Alaudidae
The closest relatives of the Crested Lark that you can see in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (family Alaudidae, Larks) are Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark (about 20%) and Australasian Bushlark (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Crested Lark is recorded against all the birds logged in Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary (140 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
