Alternative name: Oriental Pipit
- Anthus rufulus
Identification
15–16 cm (5¾-6 in)
- Long creamy-buff supercilium
- Upperparts streaked greyish-brown
- Pale underparts with breast streaking
- Long legs andd tail and a long dark bill
- Sexes are similar
- Juveniles have warmer brown upperparts.
Confusion species
Compared with Richard's pipit, Paddyfield:
- Seems more lanky, is less robust
- Seems to have longer legs, these tending towards yellow
- Holds its head straighter, with its beak less raised
- Has a less uniform, more streaked mantle
- Has a more heavily streaked cap
- Has a wider and more visible eyebrow, so less clear apparent "glasses"
- Has a less clear malar stripe
- Has slightly different median coverts
- Is more rufous underneath
Distribution
Asia: found in Mongolia, China, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Japan
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Malay Peninsula, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Greater Sundas, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, Lesser Sundas, Bali, Timor
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
Photo © by Alok Tewari
Sultanpur National Park, Gurgaon, Haryana, India, August-2016
Around six subspecies recognized[1]
- A. r. waitei:
- North-western Indian subcontinent
- A. r. rufulus:
- A. r. malayensis:
- Extreme south-western India, Sri Lanka, Malay Peninsula, Greater Sundas, southern Indochina
- A. r. lugubris:
- Philippines, Palawan and (possibly) northern Borneo
- A. r. albidus:
- Sulawesi, Bali and western Lesser Sundas (Lombok to Sumba)
- A. r. medius:
- Eastern Lesser Sundas (Sawu, Timor, Rote, Kisar, Leti, Moa, Sermata)
Habitat
Open country, grasslands, ricefields, scrub and parks up to 1500m.
Behaviour
Movements
A resident species.
Breeding
A ground-nester. The cup-shaped nest is woven from grass and leaves, lined with fine grass, roots and maybe dry moss. The clutch contains 3-4 greenish eggs with smalls brown spots at the larger end..
There are usually at least two broods, maybe three, each year.
Diet
Their main diet consists of insects and their larvae, such as weevils, ants and termites.
Vocalisation
Recording by Alok Tewari
Sultanpur village, Dist. Gurgaon Haryana, India, Aug-2016
Cummunating call given by one individual at Sunset-time;
and another brief call by an individual as it flew off.
Nazafgarh Wetlands, Dist. Gurgaon Haryana, India, Dec-2016
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Avibase
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved October 2015)
- The Beauty of Birds
- BF Member observations
- Here is a thread discussing the identification of Paddyfield Pipit. [[1]]
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2023) Paddyfield Pipit. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 31 March 2023 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Paddyfield_Pipit
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
