The Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) is a rare breeding bird of the Scandinavian high mountains, named for the two small, upward-pointing black feather tufts — "horns" — that breeding males wear on the crown. It measures 16–19 cm long, with a wingspan of 30–35 cm and a weight of 30–48 grams, showing sandy-brown upperparts and a white belly set off by a striking black-and-yellow face pattern and a black breast band; females are more subdued and usually lack clear horn feathers. The species has a circumpolar range, occurring on barren open ground in both North America and Eurasia, but in Scandinavia it is confined to the very bleakest habitats above the tree line.
Its call is a thin, light, chirping "tseep" or "tsi-tsirr", and the song — delivered in a rising display flight or from the ground — is a short, ringing, somewhat creaking phrase. Horned Larks nest on the ground, well sheltered among stones and low mountain vegetation, with the female laying 3–5 eggs and incubating for just under two weeks; the short, intense mountain summer usually allows only a single brood. They feed on seeds and insects picked from the ground, insects dominating during the breeding season and seeds becoming more important on migration. Breeding only very sparingly in the bare high mountains of Swedish Lapland, with a population estimated at just 50–200 pairs, the species is far more often encountered by birders as a scarce autumn migrant resting on coastal heaths, mainly in October and November — and climate change poses a real threat to its already limited high-mountain habitat.
Read about this species in Swedish →