Distribution

Short-clawed Lark is a southern African endemic, confined to two disjunct populations in Vachellia savanna. A large western population is found in southeastern Botswana and the neighboring Northern Cape, North West, and Limpopo provinces of South Africa, while a smaller eastern population is largely confined to the Polokwane Plateau in the central Limpopo Province. A seemingly isolated population was discovered in the Pilanesberg region of the North West Province in 2019.

Breeding Range

Within its range, the species has a disjunct distribution comprised of two geographically isolated populations. A large, western population occurs in southeastern Botswana and the neighboring western regions of the North West and Limpopo provinces, South Africa. It also occurs sparsely and sporadically in the northeastern Northern Cape Province. The smaller eastern population is largely confined to the Polokwane Plateau in the central Limpopo Province, South Africa. The species is resident and breeds throughout its range.

The western population is largely restricted to a relatively small area from Malolwane, Mochudi, and Molepole north of Gaborone, southeastern Botswana, west to Sevrelela, south to Pitsane, and east to the Botswana/South Africa border (30 Hunter, N. D. (1991). An overview of the larks in Botswana Part 2. Babbler 21/22:62-73 Close , 31 Herremans, M. (1997) Short-clawed Lark. In The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Volume 2. Passeriformes (J. A. Harrison, D. Allan, L. G. Underhill, and M. Herremans, Editors), BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. pp. 20-21 Close , 32 Brewster, C. A., K. Mooketsa, and Herremans, M. (2010). Status of Short-clawed Lark Certhilauda chuana in south-eastern Botswana. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 17(1):32–42. Close ). In South Africa, the core range of the western population is in a triangular area created by Dinokana, Madibogo, and Tshidilamolomo (33 Engelbrecht, G. D., and J. I. Grosel (2015). Short-clawed Lark Certhilauda chuana. In The 2015 Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (M. R Taylor, F. Peacock, and R. M. Wanless, Editors), Birdlife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. pp. 325–327. Close ). Beyond this core area, isolated populations occur as far north as Moiyabana and Shoshong in the Central Province, Botswana (34 White, I. (2019). Record of Short-clawed Larks Certhilauda chuana south-west of Serowe. Babbler 65:26. Close , 35 Brewster, C. A. (2022). Short-clawed Larks Certhilauda chuana at Moiyabana and Shoshong and their songs. Babbler 68:14–16. Close ), and as far south as the Kimberley-Hartswater region, South Africa. The discovery of an isolated population at Bojanala and Monnakato north of Rustenburg in the North West Province in 2019, South Africa, resulted in an approximate 90 km eastward range extension of the western population (36 Engelbrecht, D., and J. Grosel (2019). Short-clawed Lark range extension. The Lark 26:61–63. Close ) (See Historical Changes to the Distribution).

The smaller eastern population is restricted mainly to the Polokwane Plateau in the central Limpopo Province. It is restricted in the east by the northern Drakensberg Escarpment, in the north by the Soutpansberg mountain range, and in the south and west respectively by the Bewaarkloof and Waterberg mountain ranges. Its core range constitutes a relatively small area south of 23°30 S, west of 29°50 E, north of 24° S, and east of 29° E. North of this core range are isolated populations, often associated with areas of subsistence agriculture.

Records of Short-clawed Lark from the Steenbokpan-Stockpoort region in the western Limpopo River valley predating 2009 are interesting (33 Engelbrecht, G. D., and J. I. Grosel (2015). Short-clawed Lark Certhilauda chuana. In The 2015 Eskom Red Data Book of Birds of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (M. R Taylor, F. Peacock, and R. M. Wanless, Editors), Birdlife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. pp. 325–327. Close ), as they could have constituted remnants of a corridor linking the western and eastern populations, or suitable habitat may have existed at the time but became unsuitable, as there had been no records of the species from that region since then. This population would have been separated from the closest individuals on the Polokwane Plateau by approximately 150 km of unsuitable habitat that includes sandveld, broad-leaved bushveld, and mountainous regions (36 Engelbrecht, D., and J. Grosel (2019). Short-clawed Lark range extension. The Lark 26:61–63. Close ).

The range of the species has been estimated at 254,000 km² (37 BirdLife International (2021). Species factsheet: Certhilauda chuana. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/10/2021. Close ). However, given the very specific ecological requirements of the species, the core of its present distribution range is considerably smaller and estimated at about 1,000 km² (730 km² for the western population; 300 km² for the eastern population) (Engelbrecht, unpublished data based on South African Bird Atlas Project 2 [SABAP2] data).

Nonbreeding Range

Short-clawed Lark is resident.

Introduced Range

The species has not been introduced beyond its known range.

Extralimital Records

There are no extralimital records for Short-clawed Lark.

Comparing the Southern African Bird Atlas Projects 1 and 2 suggests a northerly range contraction for the western population (SABAP1/2 comparison: Short-clawed Lark 2021). However, the SABAP1 distribution in the Northern Cape represents mostly marginal habitat, and records of the species from the Free State are now in question; the poor state of knowledge regarding the vocalizations and habitat preference of the species in the 1980s and early 1990s, and an incorrect description of the plumage features in some field guides at the time (38 Maclean, G. L. (1985). Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. Fifth edition. Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town, South Africa. Close ), suggests the possibility of misidentification. Any historical records from the Free State are considered dubious; there have been no confirmed records of the species in the Free State since SABAP1 (39 Engelbrecht D., J. Grosel, and S. Dippenaar S (2007). The western population of the Short-clawed Lark in South Africa revisited. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 14(1):58–61. Close ). Although there has been a slight decline in suitable habitat for the species in southeastern Botswana due to a shift away from traditional subsistence agricultural practices that favor Short-clawed Lark (32 Brewster, C. A., K. Mooketsa, and Herremans, M. (2010). Status of Short-clawed Lark Certhilauda chuana in south-eastern Botswana. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 17(1):32–42. Close ), it has not affected the species’ range significantly in that region. Away from its core range, Short-clawed Lark occurrence may be transient, occupying areas when suitable habitat becomes available and abandoning the site when the habitat becomes unsuitable (32 Brewster, C. A., K. Mooketsa, and Herremans, M. (2010). Status of Short-clawed Lark Certhilauda chuana in south-eastern Botswana. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 17(1):32–42. Close ). Despite a slight range contraction in some regions, SABAP2 data (commenced 1 July 2007; last accessed 24 January 2023) show an apparent increase in relative abundance in both populations since SABAP1 (1987–1991).

A male Short-clawed Lark collected by Johan August Wahlberg (1810–1856) on 17 February 1842 presents a distribution anomaly. The collection locality is given as the Apies River (in present-day Gauteng Province, South Africa) (16 Dean, W. R. J., E. Åhlander, and U. S. Johansson (2022). Avian type localities and the type specimens collected by Johan August Wahlberg in southern Africa. Zootaxa 5134(4): 521–560. Close ). There are no historical or present-day records of the species from the Apies River region; the Apies River is approximately 100 km east of the closest known population of the species, a seemingly isolated population discovered as recently as 2019 in the Pilanesberg region (36 Engelbrecht, D., and J. Grosel (2019). Short-clawed Lark range extension. The Lark 26:61–63. Close ). Although the possibility exists that the collection locality inscribed on the tag was inaccurate, it is also possible that suitable habitat may have existed in the Apies River region at the time. Most of Wahlberg's other Short-clawed Lark specimens were collected near Pilanesberg, suggesting the species was relatively common in that region in the 1840s but went unrecorded from that region for the next 175 years!

A clutch of three eggs found near Belfast, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, on 22 January 1902, attributed to Short-clawed Lark (40 Meise, W. (1969). Max Schonwetter Handbuch der Oologie. Lieferung 16. Akademie Verlag, Berlin. Close ), is in all likelihood a case of misidentification (31 Herremans, M. (1997) Short-clawed Lark. In The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Volume 2. Passeriformes (J. A. Harrison, D. Allan, L. G. Underhill, and M. Herremans, Editors), BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. pp. 20-21 Close ). The high-rainfall, upland sour grasslands on sandy soils in the Belfast region are very different from the species' typical preference for semi-arid, thornveld savanna with hard, loamy soils on a granitic substrate, and the dimensions and shape of the eggs are also atypical for the species (31 Herremans, M. (1997) Short-clawed Lark. In The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Volume 2. Passeriformes (J. A. Harrison, D. Allan, L. G. Underhill, and M. Herremans, Editors), BirdLife South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa. pp. 20-21 Close ).