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Cool Facts |
Photo
taken from:
The
Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America by
David Allen Sibley
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- The American Pipit was long known as the Water Pipit (Anthus
spinoletta ), a wide ranging species with seven subspecies occurring
from the shores of Great Britain and Scandinavia, and the high mountains
of Europe and central Asia, to North America. Recent taxonomic studies,
however, have shown that the three North American subspecies, along with
the most eastern Asiatic one, are best regarded as a distinct species.
- In an alpine population in the Beartooth Mountains of Wyoming, a
snow storm buried 17 American Pipit nests for 24 hours. All of the
nestlings that were 11 days or older survived, but only a few of the
younger ones did.
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Description |
Adult Description
- Medium-sized songbird.
- Brown and striped.
- Thin bill.
- White outer tail feathers.
- Bobs tail up and down.
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Immature Description
Similar to adult. |
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Range Map |
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Taxonomic Hierarchy |
© 2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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Kingdom: |
Animalia |
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Phylum: |
Chordata |
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Subphylum: |
Vertebrata |
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Class: |
Aves |
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Order: |
Passeriformes |
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Family: |
Motacillidae |
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Genus: |
Anthus |
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Species: |
Anthus rubescens |
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Sound |
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Song a series of high, jangling notes. Call a quick, dry
"pip-it."
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Identification and
Information
See
Anatomy
of a Bird
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Body |
- Length
Range: 17 cm (6.5 in)
- Weight:
23 g (0.8 oz)
- Size:
Small (5 - 9 in)
- Color
Primary: Brown, Gray, Buff
- Underparts:
Buff with faint brown streaking.
- Upperparts:
Gray-brown
- Back
Pattern: Striped or streaked
- Belly
Pattern: Solid
- Breast
Pattern: Striped or streaked
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Head |
- Bill Shape:
All-purpose
- Eye Color:
Dark brown.
- Head
Pattern: Eyeline, Plain, Streaked,
Eyering, Malar or malar stripe
- Crown Color:
Gray-brown
- Forehead
Color: Gray-brown
- Nape Color:
Gray-brown
- Throat
Color: BUFF
- Cere color:
No Data
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Flight |
- Flight
Pattern: Swift flight on series of
rapidly beating wings.
- Wingspan
Range: 25-28 cm (10-11 in)
- Wing Shape:
Rounded-Wings
- Tail Shape:
Fan-shaped Tail
- Tail
Pattern: Barred
- Upper Tail:
Dark gray-brown
- Under Tail:
BUFF
- Leg Color:
Black
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Breeding |
- Breeding Location:
Mountains, Marshes, freshwater, Swamps,
Grasslands
- Breeding Type:
Monogamous, Solitary nester
- Breeding Population:
Widespread
- Egg Color:
Gray white with brown markings
- Number of Eggs: 3 - 7
- Incubation Days: 13
- 15
- Egg Incubator:
Female
- Nest Material:
Often no nest materials, but will sometimes
use sticks and grass.
- Migration: Migratory
- Condition at Hatching: Downy and
helpless.
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Other Names |
Similar Species |
- Water Pipit
- Pipit d’Amérique (French)
- Bisbita de Agua Americana; Alondra acuática
(Spanish)
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- Sprague's Pipit has pale legs, pale face, buffy upperparts with
strong streaks, and unstreaked flanks.
- Rare Red-throated Pipit much more heavily striped above and below,
and usually has reddish throat.
- Vesper Sparrow has thick bill, dark cheek patch, and heavier chest
streaking.
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Conservation Status |
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May be declining. |
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Habitat |
Sources used to
Construct this Page: |
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Breeds in arctic and alpine tundra. In migration and winter uses
coastal beaches and marshes, stubble fields, recently plowed fields,
mudflats, and river courses. |
- Verbeek, N. A. M. and P. Hendricks. 1994. American
Pipit (Anthus rubescens). In The Birds
of North America, No. 95 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.).
Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences;
Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
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Food |
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Insects and seeds. |
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Behavior |
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Walks or runs while pecking at ground or gleaning from low
vegetation, frequently changing direction; occasional short flights
from ground or boulders to pursue prey. Feeds in large flocks in
fall and winter. |
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