Black-crowned Sparrow-lark

Description:

Small, sparrow sized bird from family Alaudidae (Larks). Male harbors striking appearance, with pale grey back, all black-black underparts and a white pattern on the head (front, neck and cheeks are all white or creamy white), pale bill. Female, at the first glance, looks like a sparrow female, almost nondescript, greyish (photo No 2). (I first saw a female, and almost discarded it in favor of bee-eater, found on the same spot... and suddenly one male showed up and shifted my attention once again). They do look like angry birds...

Habitat:

They are found in a narrow very dry Sahel belt, West to East Africa, including the Sudanese Red Sea coast and Horn. Here, seen at Moussawwarat, one of the famous Sudan monuments, dry area, very dry semi-desert. (not properly traced on a joined map, cannot find the place on this map).