Rock Pipit

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iRock Pipit

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Species: A. petrosus
Binomial name
Anthus petrosus
(Montagu, 1798)

The Rock Pipit, Anthus petrosus, is a small passerine bird which breeds on rocky coasts of western Europe northwards from Brittany. It is mainly resident in Ireland, Great Britain and France, in the west of its range, but the Scandinavian and Russian populations migrate south in winter.

Like most other pipits, this is undistinguished looking species on the ground, mainly dark brown above and heavily streaked buff below. It has dark legs, pale grey outer tail feathers and a longish dark bill. Its dark plumage is an adaptation to the rocky coasts on which it breeds and winters.

West European birds (race petrosus) remain dark grey-buff all year. Scandinavian and Baltic Sea birds (race littoralis) may show pinkish underparts and a pale supercilium in summer, thus resembling the closely related Water Pipit, with which Rock Pipit was previously considered conspecific (Sangster et al., 2002); they are usually indistinguishable from petrosus in winter.

Judging from external (Alström & Mild, 1987) and molecular (Voelker, 1999) characteristics, this species and the Water Pipit are very closely related. They can be told apart by their song (Leonovich et al, 1997), and while they may be found in the same general area occasionally, they do not utilize the same habitat (Bijlsma, 1977). Rock Pipits tend to be found along rocky coasts whereas Water Pipits favour damp grassland. The Rock Pipit is a much tamer bird than the Water Pipit; if startled, it flies a fairly short distance, close to the ground, before it lands again.

This species is insectivorous. Its call is an explosive "fit". The song, as in many pipits, is a series of "blocks" of repeated more or less shrill cheeping single or double notes; it ends on a trill and has usually fewer, but longer-lasting "blocks" (a dozen repetitions or more) than in the Water Pipit.

[edit] References

  • Alström, Per & Mild, Krister (1987): Some notes on the taxonomy of the Water Pipit complex. Proceedings of the 4th International Identification Meeting (Eilat): 47–48. Eilat: International Birdwatching Center.
  • Alström, Per & Mild, Krister (1996): The identification of Rock, Water and Buff-bellied Pipits. Alula 2(4): 161–175.
  • Bijlsma, R. (1977) Voorkomen en oecologie van Anthus spinoletta en A. s. littoralis in de uiterwaarden van de Rijn bij Wageningen. Limosa 50: 127–136. [Article in Dutch]
  • BirdLife International (2004). Anthus petrosus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
  • Leonovich, V. V.; Deminia, G. V. & Veprintseva, O. D. (1997): [On the taxonomy and phylogeny of pipits (Genus Anthus, Motacillidae, Aves) in Eurasia]. Biulleten Moskovskogo obshchestva ispytatelei prirody. Otdel biologicheskii. 102(2): 14–22. [Article in Russian]
  • Voelker, G. (1999): Molecular evolutionary relationships in the avian genus Anthus (Pipits: Motacillidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 11(1): 84–94. DOI:10.1006/mpev.1998.0555 (HTML abstract)
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