From Opus

Photo by Leon
Potchefstroom, South Africa, June 2004

Anthus cinnamomeus

Includes: Cameroon Pipit

[edit] Identification

15 to 17 cm

• Buff-brown streaky upperparts
• White or pale buff underparts
• Streaked breast
• Unstreaked belly and flanks
• Boldly patterned face; pale eyestripe, dark malar stripe
• Whitish outer tail-feathers
• Long pink legs
• Slender dark bill with a yellowish base to the lower mandible
  

Juvenile birds have a blotched breast, scalloping on the upperparts and some streaking on the flanks.

[edit] Similar Species

Long-billed Pipit, which has buff outer tail and a sparrow-like call.

[edit] Distribution

This is the most common Pipit in eastern and southern Africa.
Western Africa: Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Swaziland
Middle East: Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

[edit] Taxonomy

More than ten subspecies recognized.
This species was formerly regarded 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.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• A. c. lynesi:

• South-eastern Nigeria to Cameroon and western Sudan (Darfur)

• A. c. camaroonensis:

• Cameroon (Mount Cameroon and Mount Manenguba)

• A. c. stabilis:

• Central and south-eastern Sudan

• A. c. cinnamomeus:

• Highlands of western and south-eastern Ethiopia

• A. c. eximius:

• Yemen

• A. c. annae:

• Eritrea to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, eastern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania

• A. c. itombwensis:

• Eastern Zaire (Itombwe Highlands and Mount Kabobo)

• A. c. lacuum:

• Kenya to south-eastern Uganda and central Tanzania

• A. c. lichenya:

• North-eastern Angola to southern Zaire, western Uganda, western Tanzania and Mozambique

• A. c. spurius:

• North-eastern Namibia to northern Botswana, southern Malawi and southern Mozambique

• A. c. bocagei:

• Angola to Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique and northern Cape Province

• A. c. grotei:

• Salt pans of northern Namibia and northern Botswana

• A. c. rufuloides:

• South Africa (except north-west), Swaziland and Lesotho lowlands

Some authors split camaroonensis from Cameroon as Cameroon Pipit.

[edit] Habitat

Open habitats at altitudes of up to over 3000 m, grasslands and fields.

[edit] Behaviour

It has an undulating flight and can often be seen perching on posts and bushes. On the ground it walks with a strutting gait and often holds itself very erect.

[edit] Vocalisation

The song is a repeated series of twittering notes, given during an undulating song-flight or from a low perch.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links