Chestnut-backed Sparrow-Lark

This is a small lark at 11 cm. The male is striking, with solid black underparts and head apart from brilliant white patches on the nape and behind the eyes. The upperparts and wings are chestnut with some dark streaking. The thick bill is grey. The female chestnut-backed sparrow-lark is a drabber bird with heavily streaked buff-white underparts and head, and a white nape collar. The upperparts are chestnut with mottling. Young birds are like the female.

This lark is a bird of open dry habitats such as open grassland and arid savanna, preferring recently burned turf, open fields, and gravel plains. They shuffle along in bare patches foraging for seeds and insects. They are both resident and nomadic, although movements are poorly understood. It is often found in mixed flocks with chestnut-headed sparrow-lark where their ranges overlap in NE Africa. Geographic range: •Eremopterix leucotis: South Sudan to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and northwestern Somalia