Wood pipit
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Anthus nyassae

The wood pipit or woodland pipit (Anthus nyassae ) is a small passerine bird belonging to the pipit genus Anthus in the family Motacillidae. It was formerly included in the long-billed pipit (Anthus similis ) but is now frequently treated as a separate species. It is a bird of miombo woodland in south-central Africa, unlike the long-billed pipit which inhabits open grassland. It perches in trees when flushed but forages on the ground for invertebrates.

Appearance

It is 16-18 centimetres long. The upperparts are warm brown with dark streaks while the underparts are pale with some streaking on the breast. The bird has a dark eyestripe, white supercilium and pale outer tail-feathers. Juveniles have dark spots above and have more streaking below than the adults. The bird's song is high-pitched and monotonous.

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The long-billed pipit is very similar but has a slightly longer bill and tail, a smaller pale area in the outer tail-feathers and a slightly lower voice.

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Distribution

Geography

The range of the wood pipit extends from south-east Gabon eastwards to southern and western Tanzania and southwards as far as north-east Namibia, northern Botswana, Zimbabwe and north-west Mozambique. At least three subspecies are recognized: A. n. nyassae, A. n. frondicolus and A. n. schoutedeni. Some authors recognize a fourth subspecies, A. n. chersophilus.

References

1. Wood pipit Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_pipit
2. Wood pipit on The IUCN Red List site - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/103821482/104353201
3. Xeno-canto bird call - https://xeno-canto.org/584717

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