• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2019	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	31 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	64,100,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	45,400,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	140000000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2016
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.5 years	-	-	-

Population justification: Partners in Flight estimate the global population to number 140,000,000 mature individuals (A. Panjabi in litt. 2017). The European population is estimated at 2,140,000-6,510,000 pairs, which equates to 4,280,000-13,000,000 mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). National population sizes have been estimated at 100-10,000 breeding pairs, 50-1,000 individuals on migration and 50-1,000 wintering individuals in China as well as <1,000 individuals on migration and <1,000 wintering individuals in Japan (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification:

The population in Europe is estimated to be stable (BirdLife International 2015). In North America, this species has undergone a large, significant decline over the last 50 years (70% decline between 1966 and 2015 based on the North American Breeding Bird Survey [Sauer et al. 2017], or 65% decline between 1970 and 2014 based on Partners in Flight [A. Panjabi in litt. 2017]). Recent trends suggest a significant decline of 22.9% over the last three generations in North America (Sauer et al. 2017). Therefore the global population is assessed as being in decline.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native	yes
Albania	extant	native		yes
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native				yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Belarus	extant	native			yes
Belgium	extant	native			yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Bhutan	extant	native		yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Canada	extant	native		yes		yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Colombia	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native			yes
Denmark	extant	native			yes
Estonia	extant	native				yes
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native			yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes
Germany	extant	native			yes
Greece	extant	native	yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Hungary	extant	native			yes
Iceland	extant	vagrant
India	extant	native		yes
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes
Ireland	extant	vagrant
Israel	extant	native		yes
Italy	extant	vagrant
Japan	extant	vagrant
Jordan	extant	native
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Latvia	extant	vagrant
Lebanon	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native				yes
Luxembourg	extant	vagrant
Malta	extant	vagrant
Mexico	extant	native
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Morocco	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native			yes
North Macedonia	extant	native		yes
Norway	extant	native	yes
Pakistan	extant	native		yes
Poland	extant	native	yes			yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native			yes
Slovenia	extant	vagrant
Spain	extant	vagrant			yes
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native	yes			yes
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	vagrant
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	vagrant
Syria	extant	native	yes
Tajikistan	extant	native		yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native		yes
Ukraine	extant	native			yes	yes
United Kingdom	extant	native			yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subarctic	major	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical High Altitude	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	breeding
Grassland	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Sand Dunes	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	suitable	non-breeding
Shrubland	Boreal	major	breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	breeding
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 5400 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Nomadic grazing	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Cenchrus clandestinus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Horned Lark Eremophila alpestris. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/horned-lark-eremophila-alpestris on 27/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 27/12/2024.