Diet
Food and water for the Raso Lark is scarce during the drought seasons. These necessities are provided by eating Cyperus bulbosus or Cyperus cadamosti which are bulbs of nutsedges (3). Males and females have different sized bills, which is why it was thought that males fed more on bulbs than females do. To get to bulb the Raso Lark must use its beak to dig burrows in the sandy soil. New studies are showing that males consume more bulbs than females not because of the difference in bill size (3). Males bills are 20% larger than females bills (Donald 2007). Males consume more bulbs because males control the territories (Donald 2007). Females can dig the burrows just as well as the males. Males dig .32 bulbs per minute and females dig .36 bulbs per minute (Donald 2007). Males dig for 61.8 seconds while females dig for 58.0 seconds (Donald 2007). Females are just as adequate at digging as males, but they only spend about 1/3 as much time digging as males do. Because of this, females spend significantly more time feeding from the surface (Donald 2007). The males protect these territories, which usually have more than one burrow that provides them with food, even from the females of their species (Donald 2007). Females are dying at a much faster rate because of this and because their only source of food without the bulbs are insects and grass seeds. Females spend a larger portion of their time foraging which means less time looking out for predators and they also have a higher food stress which both can lead to their deaths (Donald 2007).
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