This Secondary Area is defined by the range of the threatened Archer's Lark Heteromirafra archeri (classified as Endangered). It is known from a small area west of Hargeisa and Buramo in extreme north-west Somalia (see map, p. 390), and was found around Togochale and Teferi Ber on the Ethiopia-Somalia border in 1996 (Webb 1996). It inhabits open, short sparse grassland with rocks and scattered scrub at c.1,500 m on a high plateau (Keith et al. 1992), and is threatened because of its exceptionally restricted range and because its habitat may have been seriously disrupted by cultivation and settlement. Another lark which appears to be restricted to the same general area is treated as a full species, Somali Lark Mirafra sharpii, by Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) but is considered here to be a subspecies of the widespread Rufous-naped Lark M. africana following Dowsett and Dowsett-Lemaire (1993).

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: North-west Somalia. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/363 on 22/11/2024.