Brown Songlark

Cincloramphus cruralis
Megaluridae

Male and female Brown Songlarks are very different from one another. The plumage of the male is rich chocolate brown, and during breeding season he performs spectacular song-flights, taking off from a prominent feature, such as a stump, overhead wires or a fence post, fluttering high above the grasslands with his legs dangling below, and singing a discordant, metallic tune, before dropping into the grass. They like to be noticed. This contrasts with female Brown Songlarks, which are drabber, and spend much time hiding in the grass.

Description

The Brown Songlark is remarkable for the male being much larger (23-25 cm) than the female (18-19 cm). In breeding plumage the male is dark cinnamon-brown with black bill and black eyes. Otherwise the male and female both have a dusky brown back, pale brownish-white underparts, with the centre of the belly dark brown. The Brown Songlark is also known as the Australian Songlark.

Similar Species

The female Brown Songlark could be mistaken for the Rufous Songlark, female White-winged Triller, Skylark, or Richard's Pipit. Brown Songlarks are much larger than the Rufous Songlark and lack the rufous rump.

Distribution

The Brown Songlark is found all over mainland Australia except for parts of the far north. It is more abundant in the south, but numbers fluctuate locally depending on rainfall.

Habitat

The Brown Songlark is found in open country, including pastures, short crops, and grassy scrub.

Feeding

The Brown Songlark feeds on seeds and insects.

Breeding

The nest of the Brown Songlark is in a small depression in the ground, often in a clump of grass or other cover. The female incubates the eggs and rears the young.

The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates

This Wherigo converts your player into a virtual version of the "Reverse Cache Box" which tells you the bearing to the cache, but not the distance. You may begin your search from any spot in the world using your Smartphone or Whereigo compatible GPS to navigate to the cache.
**As the cartridge produces whole number degrees, the triangulation is not accurate from long distances especially if the 2 readings are taken close together producing an acute angle at intersection, so don't be disheartened by a GZ that seems wrong, go near there and take more readings.**

The cartridge was created by day1976 and is available to download from the wherigo website. day1976's Open Source Reverse Wherigo  .

Start up the player, find and load the cartridge. > NewGame > Find a Geocache > Answer > Enter First Code > xxxxx > Answer > Enter Second Code > xxxxx > Answer > The bearing to this Geocache is xxx degrees. This bearing is from where you are standing. It is now up to you how many times you relocate and obtain different bearings so as to triangulate the cache. The ultimate goal would be to find the cache with just one bearing reading, but for most, it would need a minimum of two bearings. Bearings are with respect to True North, so If using an OS map, allowances will have to be made, as Grid North, Magnetic North, and True North are all different!

To begin, you will have to type these two codes into your player when prompted:

jl3n9

h52x5

It is suggested that you take the code with you on your journey. It will be needed if it becomes necessary to restart your player for any reason.

Have Fun!

How to download the Whereigo Cartridge

You may begin your search from any spot in the world using a Whereigo compatible GPS unit or phone app.

Link to day1976's Open Source Reverse Wherigo cartridge.

Log into wherigo.com using your geocaching.com player name and password. The cartridge type used on phone apps is the Pocket PC Device.