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24

Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) German name(s): "Wasserpieper" Size: 16-17 cm; wing span: 22.5-28 cm Body mass: 21-25 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.17-0.18

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 Twite Common Linnet Brambling Common Chaffinch European Goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch Hawfinch Common Crossbill Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cirl Bunting Common Reed Bunting Little 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 Water Pipits are small members of the genus Anthus. Their plumage is highly cryptic. Adults have distinct breeding and eclipse plumages. Breeding Water Pipits of nominate race "spinoletta" have a pinkish front (from throat to chest), while the rest of the underparts, from belly to undertail coverts, is white. Apart from off-white supercilia, the head is grey. The back is olive-brown with fine darker streaking, while the wings are dark-grey with white edge lining creating light wing bars. In breeding Water Pipits of race "coutellii" the underparts are more rufous-buff tinged and less streaked than in race "spinoletta". In eclipse the front turns grey, with dark brown-grey streaking. The head turns brownish, while otherwise the upperparts remain largely unchanged. The irises are dark; the straight, slender bill is dark-grey (with a lighter lower mandible in winter) and the legs and feet are also dark-grey.

Taxonomy, classification See Water 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 Water Pipit is available HERE . Water Pipits are a mostly migratory species of which there are 3 extant races. Their overall range extends, with gaps, from southern and western Europe via south-eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East and parts of Arabia into central and eastern Asia, as far as eastern China. Nominate race "spinoletta" is found in southern and western Europe and the north-western mountains of Asia Minor. Race "coutellii" breeds in a range extending from the mountains of Asia Minor (except the North-west) to the Caucasus, northern Iran and Turkmenistan. Race "blakistoni" breeds in parts of central to eastern Asia, overwintering in the border region of Pakistan/India and in southern China. In Europe two races of Water Pipits are present. Birds of nominate race "spinoletta" are found as permanent residents only in mountain ranges of southern Europe (for details see, e.g., Wikipedia ). In south-eastern Europe (eastward of the Alps, along the Danube and in the High Tatras and Carpate mountains) they are summer breeding migrants. Elsewhere (in large parts of Spain, France, the south-eastern coastal fringe of England, parts of Germany and lowland Italy and Greece, the West coast of the Black Sea) they stay as winter migrants. The Middle Eastern race "coutellii" is present in the Caucasus mountain range. In the South-eastern corner of the mountain range, towards the Caspian Sea, they are sedentary. Elsewhere in the high mountains they are breeding migrants. On both sides of the range, including the northern, European side, they descend to lower altitudes to overwinter. Water Pipits specialize in very different types of habitat during and outside their breeding season. While they breed on bare alpine slopes and upland plains at high altitude, they overwinter in a variety of aquatic habitats (hence their name), such as freshwater marshes, ponds, watercress beds and also in ephemeral wetlands like waterlogged meadows or flooded fields.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "spinoletta" J. Pires reports finding Water Pipits, nominate race "spinoletta", occasionally, mostly during the winter months, in southern to central Portugal. They were also found on Morraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, in January 2023. G. Normand spotted a Water Pipit, race "spinoletta", on the slopes of the Pic de l'Homme, Pyrenees, France, in June 2021. A. Sarok reports finding a Water Pipit, nominate race "spinoletta", in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024. Race "coutellii" We have not seen a Water Pipit, race "coutellii", in Europe yet. The birds shown below were found by D. Wilczynska on the southern slopes of the Caucasus in Georgia in June 2018.

Photos

Race "spinoletta"

ADULT

BREEDING

Frontal view of a Water Pipit in breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of G. Normand)
[Pic de l'Homme, Pyrenees, France, June 2021]

Distant near-frontal view of a Water Pipit in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, June 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Water Pipit in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, June 2018]

Lateral view of a Water Pipit in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, June 2018]

NON-BREEDING

Frontal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Morraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

Near-frontal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage with its tail cocked (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, December 2017]

Near-frontal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, December 2013]

Near-frontal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, February 2019]

Near-lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, December 2013]

Lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Morraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

Lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, November 2020]

Lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage with its tail cocked (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, December 2017]

Lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, December 2013]

Lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo de Sao Vicente, Sagres, Vila do Bispo, Algarve, Portugal, November 2021]

Near-dorsal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage looking back at the observer (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Morraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, January 2023]

Near-dorsal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Morraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, January 2023]

Near-dorsal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Morraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, January 2023]

Race "coutellii"

ADULT

NON-BREEDING

Frontal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Frontal view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Near-lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Frontal view of a juvenile(?) Water Pipit (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Near-frontal view of a juvenile(?) Water Pipit (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Lateral view of a juvenile(?) Water Pipit (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]

Behaviour

Apart from small areas (parts of southern France, Corsica, Sardinia), where they are sedentary, Water Pipits are short-distance migrants.

Food, Diet

Near-lateral view of a Water Pipit in non-breeding plumage gobbling up its prey, a small worm(?) (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Morraceira island, Figueira da Foz, Mondego estuary, Portugal, November 2021]

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 Water 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.