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Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) German name(s): "Brachpieper" Size: 15.5-18 cm; wing span 25-28 cm Weight: 16-30 g

Europe: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table White Wagtail Western Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail Tawny Pipit Berthelot's Pipit Red-throated Pipit Tree Pipit Meadow Pipit Water Pipit Eurasian Rock Pipit Greater Short-toed Lark Calandra Lark Woodlark Eurasian Skylark Bearded Reedling House Sparrow Tree Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Rock Sparrow Trumpeter Finch European Serin Atlantic Canary Red-fronted Serin Eurasian Siskin Common Redpoll Arctic Redpoll Common Linnet Brambling Common Chaffinch European Goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch Hawfinch Common Crossbill Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cirl Bunting Common Reed Bunting Ortolan Bunting Black-headed Bunting Corn Bunting Rock Bunting House Bunting Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description 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.

Taxonomy, classification See Tawny Pipit at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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).

Sightings Click here for sighting information 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.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Tawny Pipit; note the characteristic dark loral stripe (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal, October 2018]

Lateral view of a Tawny Pipit; this is the bird whose calls were recorded on 24 June 2019 (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Malkinia, Masovia, Poland, June 2019]

Lateral view of a Tawny Pipit on a sandy beach (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal, October 2018]

Lateral view of a Tawny Pipit (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Montargil, Alentejo, Portugal, October 2018]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

More Tawny Pipit sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Tue, 18 April 2023, 5:56 +00:00