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Tawny Pipits are a medium-sized member of the genus Anthus. Their plumage is highly cryptic. Both sexes look alike. Except for a pale-tawny chest, which can be lightly streaked, the rest of the front is creamy to off-white. The head is streaked on top and has the typical pattern of a dark fringe around the ear coverts combining with an eye-stripe, above which there is a prominent light supercilium, and a dark moustachial stripe. Their characteristic feature is a dark loral stripe running from each eye to the base of the bill that is less pronounced or absent in other species of pipit. The back is almost unmarked greyish-brown, while the wing feathers are dark, with conspicuous tawny outer edges on the coverts. The irises are dark-brown. The upper mandible and the tip of the lower mandible are dark-grey, the rest of the lower mandible is horn-coloured. Lets and feet are pinkish-grey to orange-grey. Juveniles are more streaked on chest and upperparts than adults.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Tawny Pipit is available HERE .

Tawny Pipits are a migratory species with a range extending from western Europe in the West to central Asia in the East and from tropical Africa and the Indian subcontinent in the South to ca. 55 degrees latitude in the North. Their breeding grounds are located in north-western Africa, much of Europe (except the British Isles, Scandinavia and north-western Russia), Asia Minor, parts of the Middle East and western to central Asia. They overwinter in sub-Saharan Africa, most of Arabia and much of the Indian subcontinent (except the eastern parts). During their migration they can potentially be found between breeding areas and winter grounds.

In Europe Tawny Pipits are summer breeding migrants. They are found mostly around the Mediterranean, in large parts of Iberia (except the north-western corner), southern France, Italy, the Karst of the eastern Adriatic and in Greece. They are also present on all Mediterranean islands. They are found only in small areas of central Europe and are more prominent in eastern and south-eastern Europe, from Poland and the Baltic States to Ukraine and the Caucasus.

During the breeding season Tawny Pipits have a preference for semi-arid to arid open country, sand dunes, barren mountain slopes (and gravel pits).

J. Pires reports spotting a Tawny Pipit in Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal, in October 2018.

D. Wilczynska reports finding Tawny Pipits near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, in June 2019.

A. Sarok found a Tawny Pipit in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.