The Australian pipit (''Anthus australis'') is a fairly 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 open country in Australia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. It belongs to 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 ...

genus ''Anthus'' in the family

Motacillidae The wagtails, longclaws, and pipits are a family (biology), family, Motacillidae, of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Around 70 species occur in five genus, genera. The longclaws are entirely restricted to the Afrotropics, and the ...

. It was formerly lumped together with the Richard's, African,

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

and

Paddyfield pipit The paddyfield pipit or Oriental pipit (''Anthus rufulus'') is a small passerine bird in the pipit and wagtail family. It is a resident (non- migratory) breeder in open scrub, grassland and cultivation in southern Asia east to the Philippines. Al ...

s in a single species: Richard's pipit, ''Anthus novaeseelandiae''.Many authors split the Australasian pipit further into two species: Australian pipit (''Anthus australis'') in Australia and New Guinea.

Description

It is a slender bird, 16 to 19 cm long, and weighs about 40 grams. The

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

is pale brown above with dark streaks. The underparts are pale with streaks on the breast. There is a pale stripe over the eye and dark malar and moustachial stripes. The long tail has white outer-feathers and is often wagged up and down. The legs are long and pinkish-brown while the bill is slender and brownish. It has a sparrow-like ''chirruping'' call and a drawn-out ''tswee'' call.

Ecology

It is a bird of open

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s such as grassland, farmland, roadsides, dry river beds, sand dunes and open woodland. It forages on the ground for small

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

such as

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species d ...

s and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

e. It will also eat

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...

s such as those of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in law ...

es. The breeding season begins in August. The cup-shaped nest is placed at the base of vegetation or in the shelter of a stone. It is made of grass and built by the female. Two to five

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

are laid, three or four being most common. They are buff-white with brown blotching and are incubated for 14 to 15 days. The young birds are fed by both parents and are able to fly after 14 to 16 days.

Subspecies

A number of subspecies are recognised: **''A. a. australis'', ''A. n. bilbali'' & ''A. n. rogersi'' - mainland Australia **''A. a. bistriatus'' -

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

**''A. a. exiguus'' - New Guinea

References

* Pizzey, Graham & Knight, Frank (1997) ''The Graham Pizzey & Frank Knight Field Guide to the Birds of Australia'', HarperCollins, London, UK. * Watts, Dave (2002) ''Field Guide to Tasmanian birds'', Reed New Holland, Sydney. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3389034 Anthus Birds of Oceania Birds described in 1818 Taxa named by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot