Jerdon's Bush Lark

Jerdon's bush lark is a lark that is very pale below, with upward-pointing arrowhead spots on the breast. It is very like the Indian bush lark but has buffy lores, less white behind the ear coverts, darker centres to the wing coverts and central tail feathers, prominent dark centres to the primary coverts and duller rufous wing panels. The southern Western Ghats form is darker and more rufous below with a longer bill. It was formerly treated as part of the Bengal bush lark and moved from Mirafra to a new genus after a 2023 genetic study (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in a variety of open habitats up to 1,500m, including forest edges, rocky scrub, scrubby hill meadows, clearings, overgrown fallow fields and bamboo thickets, across south-east India and Sri Lanka. Its song is a dry rattle given from a perch, and unlike the Indian bush lark it often perches on trees and wires. SoIB 2023, which lists it as Mirafra affinis, treats it as resident with a large range, finds its trends stable, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).