Asian Short-toed Lark

The Asian short-toed lark is a small (13–14 centimetres), compact, dark sandy-brown lark with a necklace of thin streaks on the upper breast. The rest of the underside is dirty white, a little more beige on the lower throat and flanks, while the upperparts are sandy-brown heavily streaked with brown. The face is fairly plain, with a narrow beige eyebrow stripe, beige eye-ring and lores. The wings are brown-black with pale edges to the coverts and tertials, and the short tertials do not cover the tips of the primaries as in the short-toed lark. The bill is small and stubby and the legs flesh-brown. (Swedish Wikipedia, general species account)

Among its calls are a sand-martin-like drrrd and chirrick, puri, chui or chiu, and the flight call is a purring prrrt. The song, given in flight, is fuller, longer and with more mimicry than the short-toed lark's, with characteristic inserts of the contact call. It was formerly treated as part of the lesser short-toed lark but genetic studies show it is one of several lineages in that complex. The name refers to Liaoning province in China, and its range roughly follows the Silk Road. (Swedish Wikipedia, general species account)