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Buff-bellied Pipit
Anthus rubescens
Identify the Buff-bellied Pipit by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Buff-bellied Pipit is a small, ground-dwelling pipit that breeds on arctic and alpine tundra in North America and north-eastern Siberia and winters in open country further south. Brownish above with a buff-washed, finely streaked breast, it trots over the ground as it forages and gives a thin, squeaky call. Once lumped with the Water Pipit, it is now recognised as a separate species and is a rare vagrant to Europe.
Did you know?
- Its species name rubescens means “reddish”, referring to its warm breeding plumage.
- Although North American, it occasionally reaches western Europe as a rare vagrant.
Voice
About the species
Identification
A slim pipit with plain greyish-brown upperparts, a pale eyebrow, buff underparts with fine dark streaking on the breast and flanks, dark legs and white outer tail feathers. In spring it is warmer buff below with fewer streaks. Told from Water Pipit by its buffier underparts, finer streaking and darker legs.
Family
Motacillidae
Size
Small (sparrow)
Colours
brown, white, black
About the habitat
Breeds on arctic and alpine tundra; in winter it uses open, sparsely vegetated habitats such as fields, shores and mudflats.
Diet
Mainly insects and other small invertebrates picked from the ground and low vegetation; some seeds in winter.
Behaviour
A highly migratory pipit that arrives on the breeding grounds with the snowmelt. It forages by walking or running over open ground, bobbing its tail. It nests on the ground, and both parents feed the young.
Sources
Photo: Kathy & Sam from Beaverton OR, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anthus rubescens -Harney County, Oregon, USA-8.jpg
Sound: Jonathon Jongsma, XC111041, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://xeno-canto.org/111041
Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pipit
