Mongolian Short-toed Lark

A small lark with a short, conical bill. It appears long and horizontal, and has strong streaks on the upperparts. Very similar to Greater Short-toed Lark, but Mongolian Short-toed is slightly larger, is warmer brown with a rust-colored tinge on the breast and underparts, and has bolder streaking. It usually inhabits open, dry grassy habitats. Song is a prolonged melodious jumble of notes, often given in flight. Calls, often heard when individuals or flocks go overhead, are distinctly trilly, with a squeaky-wet quality to them: “tr’liu, tr’liu, liu, liu”; not as strong and insistent-sounding as the calls of Greater Short-toed Lark.

The Mongolian short-toed lark in Sri Lanka lives in the undergrowth of a small area in the southwest of the country.

The Mongolian short-toed lark eats seeds and other food items it finds on the ground. It forages by pecking, digging, and running around.