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Tawny Pipit

Tawny Pipit

Anthus campestris

Identify the Tawny Pipit by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Tawny Pipit is a large, pale, sandy-brown pipit that breeds across the central Palearctic, from north-west Africa and Iberia to Central Siberia and Inner Mongolia, and winters in tropical Africa and the Indian subcontinent. It is a ground-dwelling bird of dry open country with a wagtail-like manner. It is less streaked and a little more compact than Richard's Pipit.

Did you know?

  • Its scientific name campestris is Latin for “of the fields”.
  • It often wags its long tail like a wagtail as it walks.

Voice

Flight call

About the species

Identification

A large, pale pipit: sandy above and pale below, with only light streaking on the breast sides. Legs pinkish and shape wagtail-like; juveniles have dark-streaked upperparts. Told from other pipits by its pale tone, sparse breast streaking and pinkish legs.

Family

Motacillidae

Size

Small (sparrow)

Colours

brown, white, grey

About the habitat

Dry, open habitats with sparse vegetation: sandy heaths, dunes, steppe, semi-desert and fallow fields.

Diet

Mainly insects and other small invertebrates picked from the ground.

Behaviour

Runs over open ground with a wagtail-like gait. Nests on the ground in dry open country, laying 3–6 eggs; the female does most of the incubation, and both parents feed the young. Flight is strong and direct. The call is a sparrow-like “tchilp”, and the song a short, loud “chir-ree” delivered in undulating song flight.

Sources

Photo: Dûrzan cîrano, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tawny pipit.jpg

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC959585, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/959585

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawny_pipit

See also