African Pipit

The African pipit (''Anthus cinnamomeus'') is a fairly small passerine bird belonging to the pipit genus ''Anthus'' in the family Motacillidae. It is also known as the grassveld pipit or grassland pipit. It was formerly lumped together with the Richard's, Australian, mountain and paddyfield pipits in a single species, Richard's pipit (''Anthus novaeseelandiae''), but is now often treated as a species in its own right.

Subspecies

Some 15 subspecies are recognized:
* ''A. (c.) camaroonensis'' Shelley, 1900 – highlands of western Cameroon
* ''A. c. lynesi'' Bannerman & Bates, 1926 – southeastern Nigeria to southwestern Sudan
* ''A. c. stabilis'' Clancey, 1986 – locally in Sudan and South Sudan
* ''A. c. cinnamomeus'' Rüppell, 1840 – locally in Ethiopian highlands
* ''A. c. eximius'' Clancey, 1986 – southern Arabian peninsula
* ''A. c. annae'' R.Meinertzhagen, 1921 – coastal Horn of Africa to coastal Tanzania
* ''A. c. itombwensis'' Prigogine, 1981 – eastern highlands of the DRC
* ''A. c. lacuum'' R.Meinertzhagen, 1920 – perimeter of Lake Victoria to central Tanzania
* ''A. c. latistriatus'' F.J.Jackson, 1899 – seasonal vagrant from its Itombwe Mountains breeding range
* ''A. c. winterbottomi'' Clancey, 1985 – highlands of Malawi and adjacent countries
* ''A. c. lichenya'' Vincent, 1933 – plateaus of tropical and southcentral Africa, incl. Zimbabwean plateau
* ''A. c. spurium'' Clancey, 1951 – lowlands of southcentral Africa to coastal lowlands of Mozambique
* ''A. c. bocagii'' Nicholson, 1884 – drier regions of southcentral Africa, reaching northern South Africa
* ''A. c. grotei'' Niethammer, 1957 – higher rainfall regions of Namibia and Botswana
* ''A. c. rufuloides'' Roberts, 1936 – plateaus and lowlands of South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho

Distribution and habitat

It occurs in grassland and fields in Southern, Central and East Africa, south-east of a line from Angola through the DRCongo to Sudan. It is also found in south-western Arabia. There is an isolated population in the highlands of Cameroon which is sometimes considered to be a separate species: Cameroon pipit (''Anthus camaroonensis'').

Description

The African pipit is long and is a slender bird with an erect stance. It is buffy-brown above with darker streaks. The underparts are white or pale buff with a streaked breast and plain belly and flanks. The face is boldly patterned with a pale stripe over the eye and a dark malar stripe. The outer tail-feathers are white. The legs are long and pinkish and the slender bill is dark with a yellowish base to the lower mandible. Juvenile birds have a blotched breast, scalloping on the upperparts and some streaking on the flanks.

The song is a repeated series of twittering notes, given during an undulating song-flight or from a low perch.

The Cameroon pipit is slightly larger and darker with buff underparts.

Conservation status

Zimmerman, Turner, and Pearson (1999) call it "the common East African pipit", but BirdLife International has lumped the African pipit with Richard's pipit, and therefore has given it no separate conservation status.

Gallery

Image:Anthus cinnamomeus, nes, b, Zoutpan.jpg, left, A nest of ''A. c. rufuloides'' in a grassy floodplain, South Africa]
Image:African pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) (13971536013), crop.jpg, left, Juvenile ''A. c. rufuloides'' showing heavy mottling on the mantle plumage
Image:African Pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) lacuum - Flickr - Lip Kee.jpg, left, Adult ''A. c. lacuum'' in Kenya

References

*Peacock, Faansie (2006)
Pipits of Southern Africa
'. Accessed 25/06/07.
*Sinclair, Ian & Ryan, Peter (2003) ''Birds of Africa south of the Sahara'', Struik, Cape Town.
*Zimmerman, Dale A.; Turner, Donald A. & Pearson, David J. (1999) ''Birds of Kenya & Northern Tanzania'', Christopher Helm, London.

External links

* African/Grassveld Pipit
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

{{Taxonbar, from=Q995602

Anthus
Birds of Africa
Birds of Southern Africa
Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa
Birds described in 1840