Indochinese Bush Lark

The Indochinese bush lark is a compact, earth-toned lark with streaked brown upperparts, a short crest, pale eyebrow and buff underparts marked with darker streaks across the breast. Its camouflage matches dry grass and cultivated ground, where the bird often crouches before running or taking short flight. Formerly placed in Mirafra and treated within the Bengal bush lark complex, it is now recognised as a monotypic species in the genus Plocealauda (Alström 1998; Alström et al. 2023).

The range covers Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It occupies open grassland and other lightly wooded country below about 900 m, including cultivated land, forest margins and bamboo thickets. Birds spend much of their time on the ground, feeding and walking between grass clumps, but males rise into the air to deliver display songs. Its ability to use agricultural landscapes distinguishes it from forest-dependent birds, although patches of shrubs or scattered trees commonly remain within occupied habitat (BirdLife species account; Wikipedia, general species account).