Galerida theklae
Silhouette: Gossipguy and T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Thekla's lark (Galerida theklae), also known as the Thekla lark, is a species of lark that breeds on the Iberian Peninsula and in North and East Africa south to Kenya. It is a sedentary (non-migratory) species. This is a common bird of dry open country, often at some altitude. Thekla's lark was named by Alfred Edmund Brehm in 1857 for his recently deceased sister Thekla Brehm (1833–1857). The name is a modern Greek one, Θέκλα (Thekla), which comes from ancient Greek Θεόκλεια (Theokleia) derived from θεός (theos, "god") and κλέος (kleos, "glory" or "honour"). The population is declining in parts of Spain, but this is a common bird with a very wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
Thekla's lark has several East African subspecies that show deep genetic divergence both among themselves and from the Mediterranean populations and are consequently strong candidates for consideration as separate species. Formerly, some authorities considered Thekla's lark and the Malabar lark to be conspecific. Alternate names for Thekla's lark include short-crested lark and Thekla crested... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 5 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Thekla Lark sighting in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, based on 85 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 91st most-seen of the 153 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and August–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Thekla Lark in Sierra Nevada National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–May and July, the lowest months.
Between 5 and 8 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Thekla Lark sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
4th of 5
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Thekla Lark sightings, Sierra Nevada National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Bale Mountains National Park (Ethiopia, about 60%), Monfragüe National Park (Spain, about 20%) and Doñana National Park (Spain, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Thekla Lark is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra Nevada National Park (85 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.
