Emberiza impetuani
The Lark-like Bunting is a rather inconspicuous seed-eating bird that inhabits arid shrub- and grasslands and savannas. This species is highly nomadic, travelling over extensive areas in response to localised rainfall and increased food abundance. Being social birds they often congregate in enormous flocks numbering in the thousands, and regularly mix with other seed-eating birds (such as finch-larks, canaries, sparrows and buntings). They appear to need regular access to water and are seldom found far from waterholes.
Lark-like Buntings breed in response to rainfall with a peak in spring and summer, when monogamous pairs produce clutches of 2-4 eggs incubated for a two-week period in untidy cup-shaped nests built on the ground at the base of a rock or shrub. The chicks leave the nest when they’re about two weeks old. Fully grown they measure 15cm in length and weigh around 15g.
In South Africa Lark-like Buntings are found in all provinces, with the marked exception of the eastern reaches of the Eastern Cape and almost all of Kwazulu-Natal, and reach their highest densities in the Karoo regions in the west of the country. Beyond our borders they’re also found in Nambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Angola. The IUCN considers it to be of least concern.
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