Agulhas Clapper Lark Mirafra majoriae
South Africa, April 2007

The Agulhas Plains near Malgas (south of Swellendam), Western Cape

The Agulhas (pronounced Uh - gull - ous) Plains (or Overberg) is a fynbos region of incredible floral endemism right at the bottom of Africa that also lays claim to two species of endemic lark: the Agulhas Clapper Lark Mirafra (apiata) majoriae and the Agulhas Long-billed Lark Certhilauda brevirostris.

Much of the Plains are now used for wheat production and sheep and ostrich farming, but both these incredibly restricted larks are still present in reasonable numbers and are fairly easy to see on a day out from Cape Town by driving what Callan Cohen et al describe in the superb “Southern African Birdfinder as the Aghulas Plains Loop. The individual in the photos below was photographed on the Plains Loop on an overcast day about half-way along the gravel road from Buffeljagsrivier (just off the N2 west of Swelledam) to Malgas. The short snatch of “wing-clapping” and song linked to at the bottom of the page is also of the same individual.

Like - I would guess - many birders from outside South Africa I had no idea what a stunning bird the Agulhas Clapper Lark is. I emailed Callan Cohen asking him whether adults in late-summer (ie April in the southern hemisphere) showed such remarkably well-fringed and colourful feathers (those coverts wouldn’t look out of place on an Asian pheasant!), and he assures me that they do. He also told me that the breeding season is approx Aug-Oct, but that birds will display most of the year. (My thanks to Callan for his responses to my mails.)

Depending on which authority you consult, the Agulhas Clapper is either a full species or a sub-species of the far more widespread Clapper Lark Mirafra apiata (itself a SW Africa endemic, which may be/is three species: the Eastern Clapper, the Cape Clapper, and the Agulhas Clapper). I’m not a geneticist (or even an ornithologist per se), but my understanding is that the Agulhas both looks and sounds different to the nominate Clapper Lark, and the ranges and habitats of all three forms don’t overlap. I’m not qualifed to make any sort of a definitive statement of course, but if it doesn’t look like, sound like, or breed with a Clapper Lark - then it isn’t a Clapper Lark…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click the icon for a short recording of this Agulhas Clapper Lark. I rolled the car right up to this bird as it repeatedly displayed, ‘clapping’ its wings and giving a rather lovely “peeeoo-PEEEuuu which I managed to tape using a small hand-held recorder with a cheap mic attached (it’s not a professional recording in any way, but interesting nonetheless. I’ve left the original ‘gaps’ between calls intact to give an idea how frequently the bird sang: the first three calls the lark was displaying from fence-posts, the last four it was displaying up from the ground, and the calls are spaced much further apart).

For a photo of an Agulhas Clapper Lark in display flight, go to Trevor Hardaker - Cape Clapper Lark (marjoriae).

All photos copyright Charlie Moores