Page 283 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

PIPITS AND WAGTAILS
Order Passeriformes Family Motacillidae Species Anthus petrosus
Rock Pipit

weak pale stripe
over eye
dark back pale eye-ring
dull underside
SUMMER diffusely streaked,
grey- dusky olive back long, strong,
edged, all-black
dark tail bill
WINTER
dark legs
IN FLIGHT
grey-brown
streaks on
yellowish to dull
FLIGHT: fairly strong; bursts of wingbeats between white underside
glides.
ne of the smaller
Opipits, this is a
stocky, relatively
heavily built, and quite
dark bird, with distinctive dark legs. It
is a coastal rather than a cliff bird, breeding
in rocky places by the sea and feeding along
shorelines of all kinds. In summer, it is mostly seen
around cliffs and rocky islands, but in winter it moves SUMMER
out to open sand and shingle beaches and even the deeply
incised muddy creeks of big salt marshes. Its song-flight and song dark brown to
are very similar to those of the Meadow Pipit. blackish legs
VOICE Call rather full, more slurred than
Meadow, feest or pseeep, usually singly; song
richer, stronger trill in similar song-flight.
NESTING Hair-lined nest on ground, in
cavity in rocks; 4 or 5 eggs; 1 or 2 broods;
April–July.
FEEDING Forages on grass and rocks
above cliffs in summer, more often on
weedy and stony beaches in winter; picks IDENTICAL IN WINTER
up insects, sandhoppers, small periwinkles, The Scandinavian subspecies looks exactly like the
and similar creatures. Rock Pipit in winter but turns up inland more often.
OCCURRENCE
SIMILAR SPECIES SUBSPECIES Breeds on all rocky coasts of
Scandinavia, Shetlands, N and W
WATER PIPIT summer; MEADOW PIPIT L. a.littoralis Great Britain, Ireland, and NW
see p.280 see p.282 (Scandinavia) France. Winters widely on softer
paler, more spring
buff greyer coasts and is common around salt-
stronger back marsh creeks and muddy inlets, in
whitish S to W Spain, with Scandinavian
plainer wingbars pale less birds moving south.
below legs streaked
Seen in the UK
J F M A M JJ A S O N D
Length 16.5cm (6 1 ⁄2in) Wingspan 23–28cm (9–11in) Weight 20–30g ( 11 ⁄16 –1 1 ⁄16oz)
Social Small flocks Lifespan Up to 5 years Status Secure
281