EuSkylark

Alauda arvensis

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
Presence in the Strait: Seasonal
Abundance: abundant
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Alondra común

Photograph: Ani Sarkisyan, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 18–19 cm
Weight: 35–42 g

Presence in the Strait

Abundant winter visitor to open areas, especially in the Western area.

Identification

Similar to the Crested Lark but less bulky, with a shorter and less prominent crest. In flight, white outer tail feathers and trailing edge to wings.

Movements

The first birds arrive towards the middle of September and the last leave in May. Peaks in 2nd hf. October and 1 hf. March.

Ring recoveries

France (3), Belgium (1), Denmark (1), Holland (1) and Morocco (1). st

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

24 %

Peak in November. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 27 March 1979
Latest record: 20 October 2025

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: VU · Vulnerable · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Where they come from

7 birds ringed in other countries and recovered in the area.

France3
Belgium1
Denmark1
Netherlands1
Morocco1

See the journey on the map

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Alaudidae
GBIF taxon key: 8077224

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Ani Sarkisyan, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

EuSkylark

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery