Calandrella cinerea

The red-capped lark, Calandrella cinerea, is a small passerine bird. This lark breeds in the highlands of eastern Africa southwards from Ethiopia and northern Somalia. In the south, its range stretches across the continent to Angola and south to the Cape in South Africa. The red-capped lark was originally placed in the genus Alauda. Alternate names for the red-capped lark include rufous short-toed lark and short-toed lark, although the former may also describe the Somali short-toed lark and the latter is also used as an alternate name for three other species in the genus Calandrella. Formerly, some authorities considered both the Mongolian short-toed lark (as C. c. dukhunensis) and Erlanger's lark (as C. c. erlangeri or C. c. ruficeps) to be subspecies of the red-capped lark . Additionally, some authorities considered the red-capped lark itself to be ether conspecific with or as a subspecies of the greater short-toed lark. Four subspecies are recognized: