The olive-backed pipit (''Anthus hodgsoni'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

of the

pipit The pipits are a cosmopolitan genus, ''Anthus'', of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family Motacillidae. The genus is widespread, occurring across most of the world, ...

(''Anthus'') genus, which breeds across southern, north central and eastern Asia, as well as in the north-eastern European Russia. It is a long-distance migrant moving in winter to southern Asia and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. Sometimes it is also called Indian pipit or Hodgson's pipit, as well as tree pipit owing to its resemblance with the

tree pipit The tree pipit (''Anthus trivialis'') is a small passerine bird which breeds across most of Europe and the Palearctic as far East as the East Siberian Mountains. It is a long-distance migrant moving in winter to Africa and southern Asia. The s ...

. However, its back is more olive-toned and less streaked than that species, and its head pattern is different with a better-marked supercilium. The genus name ''Anthus'' is from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and is the name for a small bird of grasslands. The specific ''hodgsoni'' commemorates English diplomat and collector

Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1800 or more likely 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals from the Hima ...

Distribution

* Summer: from

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

n Pakistan and India, westward through Nepal, into China, north to Gansu province, and eastwards through Korea to Japan, and north through north central Asia into north-eastern Europe (European Russia). Occasionally a rare vagrant in western Europe. Breeds up to in eastern Nepal. * Winter: Broad southern region across Asia, from peninsular India, east to Southeast Asia and the Philippines. * Habitat: Affects open country. Wintering in evergreen woodland, Summers in groves and wooded biotope.

Description

* Size: Sparrow+ (ca. ) * Appearance: Greenish brown streaked with darker brown above. Supercilium, double wingbar and outer rectrices whitish. Whitish to buff below streaked with dark brown on breast and flanks. Sexes alike. Bird Number 1852, vol. 9, p. 247-249. * Habits: Seen singly or pairs. Runs about on the ground in search of food and flies up into trees when disturbed. Flight jerky and undulating. * Call: Song lark-like and uttered on the wing, similar to the tree pipit, but faster and higher pitched. A single ''tseep'' or ''spek'', also similar to the tree pipit. * Food: Insects, grass and weed seeds. * Food: Largely insects, but will also take seeds.

Nesting

* Season: May to July. * Nest: a cup of moss and grass placed on the ground under a tuft of grass or boulder. open woodland and scrub. * Eggs: 3–5, usu. 4, dark brown, spotted darker. Usually two broods are raised.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q726873 olive-backed pipit Birds of Asia olive-backed pipit olive-backed pipit