Alaudidae

Small, stocky, short tail, sturdy sparrow-like bill and distinctive fawn to rufous eyebrow returning round side of face to below eye. Colour variable, often in relation to soil of its habitat: sandy, rufous, reddish grey or blackish above, with strong pattern from pale edges of wing feathers. Immature: wider more conspicuous pale margins to wing feathers.

Diurnal, Communal birds, nesting in loose groups and wandering locally in parites of one or two to several hundred after breeding.

Grassland Woodlands, Plains, grassy flats, paddocks, cropped pastures of settled areas; floodplains.

There is a subspecies of Mirafra javanica on the Tiwi Islands, Mirafra javanica melvillensis, which is listed as Vulnerable.

October November December January February, 3 to 4; greyish-white, freckled grey-brown.

Kakadu National Park

Omnivore, Insects and other invertebrates, seeds and other vegetable matter.