Red-throated pipit (Anthus cervinus)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology:  Anthus (a small bird mentioned by Pliny) cervinus ("stag coloured")

Adult Red-throated pipit (Anthus cervinus)  near Side, Antalya, Turkey - March 2025

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 17-24g  /  Length: 14-15cm  /  Wingspan: 25-27cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

A pipit species that breeds in the Far North, primarily of Eurasia but also has a toehold in Alaska, then migrating to Africa and South East Asia to Winter. In breeding plumage the brick red throat is diagnostic, however outside of breeding plumage it can be indistinct. This bird here seen on its northward migration through Turkey is beginning to moult into it's super plumage.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

TURKEY  - Turkish: Kızıl gerdanlı incir kuşu ("Red-throated Pipit")
 - ANTALYA 2025 TRIP - One near Side

 Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology:  Anthus (a small bird mentioned by Pliny) campestris ("of the fields")

Adult Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris)  near Side, Antalya, Turkey - March 2025

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 23g  /  Length: 16.5-18cm  /  Wingspan: 25cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

A large pipit, and even by the standards of it's already fairly cryptically coloured family, fairly plain looking with minimal streaking on its chest. They have a wide but patchy distribution over most of continental Europe and migrate in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian penninsula, Pakistan and North West India. Surprisingly, they do have a film about them from 1944 about a fictional pair being discovered nesting near an English village during World War II.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
SUBSPECIES: none - monotypic 

 - Sighting Locations -

TURKEY  - Kır incir kuşu ("Prairie Pipit")

 - ANTALYA 2025 TRIP - Several at different sites near Side

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Paddyfield Pipit (Anthus rufulus)

OTHER NAMES: Oriental Pipit

Latin Etymology: Anthus ("flower") rufulus ("red-headed")

Adult Paddyfield Pipit (subspecies A. r. malayensis) at Malacca, Malaysia - July 2016

Featured Subspecies: Anthus rufulus malayensis
Weight: ?  /  Length: 16cm  /  Wingspan: ?
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The paddyfield pipit is a very widespread Asian species of pipit - one of the very few found in the region.  It was one of a number of species formerly considered part of Richard's Pipit, but that group was subsequently split off into African, Mountain and Australasian Pipits.  It seems to have fairly specific habitat requirements in Malaysia - I only encountered them at one sandy-grassland site on reclaimed land on Malacca, and as with meadow pipits in the UK, stuck to open spaces.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
SUBSPECIES: A. r. rufulus, A. r. waitei, A. r. malayensis, A. r. lugubris, A. r. albidus, A. r. medius

 - Sighting Locations -

CAMBODIA - Khmer - ក្រូចអុិនវាលស្រែ ("Orange field")

 A fairly common resident.

SINGAPORE / CAMBODIA 2019 TRIP - Some seen at Florican Grassland Reserve

MALAYSIA - Malay - Ciak Bendang ("Field Cheep")
A locally common resident

 - MALAYSIA/SINGAPORE 2016 TRIP: Several pairs seen near the shorefront in Malacca

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-Canto .

Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)

OTHER NAMES: N/A

Latin Etymology: Anthus ("small bird mentioned by Pliny") trivialis ("common or ordinary")

Adult Tree Pipit (subspecies A. t. trivialis) at Ashdown Forest, East Sussex - June 2014

Featured Subspecies: Anthus trivialis trivialis
Weight: 19-25g  /  Length: 14-15.5cm  /  Wingspan: 25-27cm
UK RED LIST / IUCN Red List Least Concern

The Tree Pipit is a far later addition to this website than realistically it has any right to be given its numbers and proximity to London, however, there are a couple of reasons which have conspired to delay its addition.  The first is that at a glance it looks very similar to the Meadow Pipit, a far more numerous species found in similar habitats and others besides, and requires a fairly good view to be able to see the diagnostic features (fine "pencil-line" like streaks on the side, pink legs, differences in song and behaviour and a few more subtle things) and secondly that it is a heathland specialist and summer migrant, and heathland, while having a few unique species found in no other UK habitat, is a habitat likely to produce far fewer wildlife sightings per hour than most other habitats.   I finally did a Summer visit to Ashdown forest in the vague hope of seeing a Short Toed Eagle that had been present there, and while failing to see that, I did manage to add this to my list.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Subspecies: A. t. trivialis, A. t. haringtoni

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Sparsely distributed but locally common summer migrant breeding species (88,000 territories)

 - Single bird seen singing at Ashdown Forest in June 2014

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto .

American Pipit (Anthus rubescens)

OTHER NAMES: Buff-bellied Pipit

Latin Etymology: Anthus (a small bird mentioned by Pliny) rubescens ("reddish")

Adult American Pipit (probable subspecies A. r. rubescens) at Queen Mother Reservoir, London - December 2012

Featured Subspecies: Anthus rubescens rubescens (?)
Weight: 21g  /  Length: 14-17cm  /  Wingspan: 24cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

I will state at this point, that ordinarily, endearing as this little fellow is, I don't have any interest in twitching hyper-rare small brown birds.  However, in this case, as its presence had caused the Queen Mother Reservoir, which normally has no access to be open to the public (and thus allow me to try and see the Red-necked Grebe it was also hosting) I made an exception, and he proved far more obliging than the Grebe which I failed to see at all.

Anyway, the Buff-Bellief (or American) Pipit is basically the local version of the Water and Rock Pipits found in the UK.  This individual probably got blown from Greenland or Eastern America, and the species in general has less than 20 records in the UK in 100 years, making it by far the rarest species I've photographed in the UK so far.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Subspecies: A. r. japonicus, A. r. pacificus, A. r. rubescens, A. r. alticola

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Ultra rare vagrant

 - Vagrant bird seen on Queen Mother Reservoir (1 adult in 2012).  .

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto .

Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta)

OTHER NAMES: N/A

Latin Etymology: Anthus (a small bird mentioned by Pliny) spinoletta (Florentine name for pipit)

Adult Water Pipit in breeding plumage (subspecies A. s. spinoletta) at Rainham Marshes, London - May 2016

Featured Subspecies: Anthus spinoletta spinoletta
Weight: 23g  /  Length: 18cm  /  Wingspan: 26g
UK AMBER LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The least numerous of the UK's four regular pipits, it is a Winter visitor which turns up more or less exclusively on the South coast - and perhaps most notably, is the only species in the UK which travels North in Winter to get here.  They breed in the high mountains of Europe and descend to lowland wetlands for the Winter. Rainham Marshes is the only site I've seen these birds at but this is not entirely typical of where they are normally found, apparently the best sites tend to be watercress beds and water treatment plants. 

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Subspecies: A. s. spinoletta, A. s. coutellii, A. s. blakistoni

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A rare Wintering visitor (190 birds) 

 - Seen in the Winters of 2010 and 2016 along the Thames foreshore at Rainham Marshes.

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto .

Eurasian Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus)

OTHER NAMES: Rock Pipit, Dusky Lark, Tangle Sparrow, Sea Mouse
Latin Etymology: Anthus (a small bird mentioned by Pliny) petrosus ("rocky")

Adult Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus) at Trevose Head, Cornwall - June 2010

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 20-28g  /  Length: 15.5-17cm  /  Wingspan: 25cm

UK GREEN LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

Rock pipits are a mainly coastal bird - as the name suggests they can most often be found on rocky areas, be it cliffs or rocky beaches. They are found along most of the coastline excepting the South East and the gap between Wales and Scotland, but are otherwise pretty much omnipresent. I had best luck with them around Trevose head, including this individual who let me within a few feet.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Subspecies: none - monotypic (formerly considered lumped with Water and Buff-Bellied Pipits)

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Locally common breeding species (36,000 pairs)

 - Birds seen at sites including but not limited to Trevose Head, Seahouses and Rainham Marshes

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

OTHER NAMES: Cheeper, Mipit, Peep
Latin Etymology: Anthus (a small bird mentioned by Pliny) pratensis ("of a meadow")

Adult Meadow Pipit (subspecies A. p. pratensis) at Trevose Head, Cornwall - June 2010

Local Name (Spain): Bisbita común ("Common Pipit")
Featured Subspecies: Anthus pratensis pratensis
Weight: 15-22g

Length: 14.5-15.5cm

Wingspan: 22-25cm

UK GREEN LIST / IUCN Red List - Near Threatened

Meadow pipits fall heavily into the category of "very common in the right places" - if you look on hillsides with lots of gorse or heather, this is probably THE bird you'll see most often, similarly on clifftop moors. Outside of this habitat, much less so - although I've seen it on fields in Geddington in the Autumn. Photographically, they aren't that flighty, and the sheer numbers of them you'll see in it's chosen habitats means you are bound to get a good photo sooner or later.

Related Species: 
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Subspecies: A. p. whistleri, A. p. pratensis

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - A locally abundant upland resident (2,000,000 territories) moving to lowlands in Winter

 - Birds seen at sites including Trevose Head, Rainham Marshes, Geddington and Keswick.

SPAIN - A fairly common reisdent

 - SEVILLE 2011 TRIP: A few birds seen at El Rocio

Further Notes: Arkive, BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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