Tree Pipit
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The tree pipit (''Anthus trivialis'') 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 generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
that breeds throughout most of Europe and the
Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...
as far east as the
East Siberian Mountains The East Siberian Mountains or East Siberian Highlands () are one of the largest mountain systems of the Russia, Russian Federation. They are located between the Central Yakutian Lowland and the Bering Strait in Northeast Siberia. The area of th ...
. It is a long-distance migrant, migrating in winter to Africa and southern Asia. The scientific name is from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
: ''anthus'' is the name of a small bird of grasslands, and the specific '' trivialis'' means "common". The breeding habitat is open woodland and scrub. The nest is placed on the ground and usually 4–6 eggs are laid. This species is insectivorous like its relatives, but will also eat seeds.


Taxonomy

The tree pipit was formally described by the Swedish naturalist
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''
Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...
'' under the
binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
''Alauda trivialis''. Linnaeus noted that the species occurred in Sweden. The specific epithet ''trivialis'' is
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
meaning "common" or "ordinary" from Latin ''trivium'' meaning "public street". The tree pipit is now placed in the
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''
Anthus The pipits are a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan genus, ''Anthus'', of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family (biology), family Motacillidae. The genus is wid ...
'' that was introduced in 1805 by the German naturalist
Johann Matthäus Bechstein Johann Matthäus Bechstein (11 July 1757 – 23 February 1822) was a German naturalist, forester, ornithologist, entomologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. In Great Britain, he was known for his treatise on singing birds (''Naturgeschichte der ...
. Two subspecies are recognised: * ''A. t. trivialis'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – breeds across Europe to southwest Siberia, north Iran and Turkey, east Kazakhstan, southcentral Siberia, Mongolia and northwest China; winters in India and Africa. Includes proposed subspecies ''sibiricus''. * ''A. t. haringtoni'' Witherby, 1917 – breeds in northwest Himalayas; winters in central India


Description

This is a small pipit that resembles the
meadow pipit The meadow pipit (''Anthus pratensis'') is a small passerine bird that breeds throughout much of the Palearctic, from south-eastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; ...
. It is an undistinguished looking species, with brown stripes above and with black markings on white underparts and buff breast below. It can be differentiated from the slightly smaller meadow pipit by its heavier bill and greater contrast between its buff breast and white belly. Tree pipits are more likely to perch in trees. The call is a strong ''spek'', unlike the weak call of its relative. The song flight is unmistakable. The bird rises a short distance up from a tree, and then parachutes down on stiff wings, the song becoming more drawn out towards the end.


Life cycle

*mid-September to mid-April: lives in sub Saharan Africa *mid April to beginning of May: migrates and arrives in countries such as the United Kingdom *beginning of May to August: breeding season, two
brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest br ...
s *August to mid September: flies back to Saharan Africas


Distribution and habitat

The tree pipit breeds in habitats with a wooded component, including
lowland heath Lowland heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below ...
and
coppice Coppicing is the traditional method in woodland management of cutting down a tree to a tree stump, stump, which in many species encourages new Shoot (botany), shoots to grow from the stump or roots, thus ultimately regrowing the tree. A forest ...
. It is most common in open woodland bordering on
moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...
or in open structured oak woodland – hence the need for heavy thinning to create a gappy structure. It prefers medium-sized trees with a low canopy, where there is low-growing scrub and brambles less than 2 metres high, so that horizontal visibility is relatively good. It likes a mosaic of grass and bracken, but not heavily grazed short turf, so light to moderate grazing is preferred.


Behaviour


Breeding

Tree pipits nest on the ground amongst
grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...
or heather tussocks. The nest is built by the female. The clutch of 4 to 6 eggs is incubated by the female. The eggs hatch after 12–14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and leave the nest after 12–14 days. The nests are sometimes parasitized by the
common cuckoo The cuckoo, common cuckoo, European cuckoo or Eurasian cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the Geococcyx, roadrunners, the ani (bird), anis and the coucals. This species is a widesp ...
(''Cuculus canorus'').


Feeding

Tree pipits mainly eat
invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...
s, typically insects, but will also eat some plant material. They mostly forage on the ground.


Gallery

File:Side view of Tree Pipit.jpg, At
Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the ...
File:Oriental Tree Pipit.jpg, In India File:Anthus trivialis MWNH 1577.JPG, Eggs, Collection
Museum Wiesbaden, Germany The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of art and natural history in the Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Kassel and Darmstadt. History The foundation o ...
File:Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)-1.jpg, In flight File:Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)at Sindhrot near Vadodara, Gujrat Pix 243.jpg, In
Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
, India File:Baumpieper (Anthus trivialis), Kappertzvenn bei Mürringen, Ostbelgien (3939066668).jpg, In Belgium File:Tree Pipit Grönvold.jpg, Historical illustration from 1907–1908 by
Henrik Grönvold Henrik is a male given name of Germanic origin, primarily used in Scandinavia, Finland, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. In Poland, the name is spelt Henryk but pronounced similarly. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Heiki (Eston ...
File:TreePipit DSCN2295.jpg, Tree pipit wintering in Anamalai Hills, India Cuculus canorus canorus MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.150.18.jpg, ''Cuculus canorus canorus'' in a clutch of ''Anthus trivialis'' - MHNT Anthus trivialis trivialis MHNT.ZOO.2010.11.204.26.jpg, ''Anthus trivialis trivialis'' - MHNT


References


External links


Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.7 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
* * * Tree pipit
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Authority control Anthus Birds of Eurasia Birds of Russia Wintering birds of Africa Wintering birds of South Asia Birds described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Articles containing video clips