- Anthus crenatus
Alternative name: African Rock Pipit
Identification
Length 17-18 cm, mass 30 g. This Pipit has a plain brown back and distinctive pale eyebrow. The wings are brown with yellow markings (visible only at close range) and the breast is buffy brown with slight streaking (also only visible at close range). The lower mandible has a yellowish base; the rest of the bill is dark brown.
Similar species
Long-billed Pipit, African Pipit, Mountain Pipit (clearly streaked backs), Buffy Pipit (pinkish base to bill, and rarely in rocky habitats), and Plain-backed Pipit (more distinctly marked breast and no yellow wing markings). Best identified by voice, a loud, repeated "whee-tsrreeu", markedly different from the calls of other Pipits.
Distribution
South African interior (south of 26° S) and Lesotho.
Taxonomy
Monotypic.
Habitat
Rocky and bushy hills and mountains.
Behaviour
Locally common, but seldom seen unless singing from a perch on a rock, as it spends much of the day on the ground, where it forages for insects, spiders and seeds.
Breeding: November to January. The nest is a cup of grass under or against a grass tuft or rock. Two to three eggs are laid and young are fed by both adults.
References
Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ & Ryan PG (eds) 2005. Robert's Birds of Southern Africa, 7th edition. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 0620340533
