- Anthus richardi
Identification
17-20 cm (6¾-7¾ in)
- Upperparts brown with dark streaks
- Underparts pale apart from streaky breast
- Face:
- Strongly marked with pale lores and supercilium
- Dark eyestripe, moustachial stripe and malar stripe.
- Long yellowish-brown legs
- Long tail with white outer-feathers
- Long dark bill with a yellowish base to the lower mandible
- Two wingbars formed by pale tips to the wing-coverts
- Very long hind claw is diagnostic
Confusion Species
Plumage similar to juvenile Tawny Pipit, to Blyth's Pipit, Paddyfield Pipit and Eurasian Skylark
Distribution
Southern Siberia, Mongolia, parts of central Asia and in northern, central and eastern China.
Rare, but regular, autumnal vagrants from Siberia, mainly to western Europe
Taxonomy
This species was formerly a part of a much larger species called Anthus novaseelandiae which was split in African Pipit, Mountain Pipit, Paddyfield Pipit, Richard's Pipit and Australasian Pipit.
Subspecies
There are 5 subspecies[1]:
- A. r. richardi:
- South-western Siberia and north-eastern Kazakhstan to Lake Baikal; winters mainly in south-western Asia
- A. r. dauricus:
- A. r. centralasiae:
- Eastern Kazakhstan to western and southern Mongolia and northern China; winters in southern Asia
- A. r. ussuriensis:
- A. r. sinensis:
- South-eastern China (south of the Yangtze River)
Habitat
Wet grassland, marshy steppes rice fields and cultivated land.
Behaviour
Flight
Strong flight with long dips. Often hovers momentarily before landing in the grass.
Diet
Its diet includes insects and seeds.
Breeding
The nest is made of grass or moss and is built on the ground under a grass tussock.
Vocalisation
Loud, explosive shreep when flushed.
Flight call
Recording by Andrew Whitehouse
Aberdeen, November 2009
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Wikipedia
- Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6
- Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Richard's Pipit. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Richard%27s_Pipit
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
