Meadow Pipit Identification (1 Viewer)

Dear all,
With its grey toned head, prominent white supercilium, obvious white wing bars and relatively diffuse streaking on the whitish upper breast this Meadow Pipit was doing a good job at impersonating a Water Pipit. To add to the effect, this pipit was actually walking along the edge of a shallow pool - of course Meadow Pipits can do this too.

I realise that Meadow Pipits are highly variable but its likeness to a Water Pipit is unusual in my experience? Has anyone any opinion on my identification of this bird or the it's appearance?

Thanks,
Lancey

i often mistake them for skylarks. was trying to ID one last sunday and thought 'nah, thats a skylark' - when infact a skylark was perched on the same fence, only on the very next post down!!! - it was indeed a meadow pipit.

water pipits tend to have less obvious markings on them. where as the meadow pipits are a little more striking with there colours.

Wapit/litt Rock

Tim

Yes, No Mippit can show wing bars like the bird in pic 2. I'm with Tim.

Identification of Pipit

Tim,
Thanks for your opinion. What put me off identifying it as Water Pipit was that others I've seen at this site in the past few months have been in the more gaudy summer plumage and therefore I believed that this bird would too have been in summer plumage had it been one. In fact,I haven't seen one since about 20th April.

Scandinavian Rock Pipit also crossed my mind but this bird didn't seem to quite have the robustness of a Rock Pipit somehow. I will say that the bill does seem to be quite long for a Meadow Pipit and dark too, which bothered me. The fact that the legs are dark and not the typical pale flesh pink of Meadow Pipit also seemed to contradict my identification.

Regards,
Lancey