Rufous Songlarks bring their joyous music in spring

Now that spring has arrived, we will soon be treated to the arrival of many warm season feathered visitors, including the Rufous Songlark. Spring means lots of tall grass and crops throughout the cleared parts of our local farmland landscapes which provides ideal habitat for the Rufous Songlark. Their arrival is heralded by male songlarks performing conspicuous song-flights, during which they flutter and circle over their chosen territories while singing their loud and melodious song. This is necessary to establish their breeding territories. Sometimes they stop to rest but nevertheless continue to sing occasionally from a prominent perch, such as a fence-post or a tree-stump. After the breeding season has concluded, songlarks become shy and hard to find. The Rufous Songlark is a brown, streaked bird with a reddish brown (rufous) rump and upper tail, pale eyebrow and pale underparts, and a dark line through its eye. In the breeding season the melodious song of the male Rufous Songlark is heard almost continuously, both from perches and in slow display flights between trees. The male is slightly larger than the female. The Rufous Songlark is a summer breeding visitor to the lightly timbered grasslands in our region and is commonly found in the inland areas of New South Wales and Queensland during cooler times. The Rufous Songlarks favour grassy open woodland and partially timbered farmland. They feed mainly on the ground, hunting insects and other small arthropods. The nest of the Rufous Songlark is a deep cup of grass on the ground in a thick grass tussock or other low vegetation, often sheltered on one side by something taller. It is the female who builds the nest, incubates the eggs and raises the young. The presence of Rufous Songlarks when breeding is occurring, is confirmed by the constant sound and movement of these birds. A walk along a timbered country lane with long grass in the adjoining paddocks is the ideal place to find them. The almost continuous song of the Rufous Songlark has been described as joyful, metallic, pleasant and musical. There is also a whip-like sound coupled with a regular wing fluttering rising and falling flying dance by the male, seeking to impress the female. It is wonderful to watch.

Rufous Songlarks bring their joyous music in spring

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