Until recently, this complex of mainly dark-legged pipits was regarded as one species, a treatment guaranteed to obscure some very real differences in their ecology, distribution and appearance. Given their more recent ‘split’ status, however, their true identities have finally emerged, though there are still some interesting identification problems to contend with.
Rock Pipit
This species has a relatively restricted world range, being confined to the coasts of north-west Europe. In Britain it is best known as a dark pipit singing above a northern sea-cliff or creeping around unobtrusively on seaweed-covered rocks. While this is particularly true for birders in the north and west, those in the South-East know Rock Pipit as a winter visitor. Here it frequents not rocky shores but lonely saltmarsh creeks.
Only recently, however, has it been discovered that these are not British Rock Pipits moving south for the winter. Instead, ringing recoveries have demonstrated that they are from Scandinavia (particularly Norway) and they are of a different form – littoralis – often known as ‘Scandinavian Rock Pipit’. Our own Rock Pipit – of the form petrosus – is confined to Britain (mainly in the north and west), Ireland, the Faeroes and northwest France and is, it turns out, not a great wanderer.
Separation of the two forms by plumage is difficult, explaining the long confusion over which form winters in south-east England. Littoralis is perhaps a little ‘cleaner’ and less ‘smudgy’ in winter than petrosus but the differences are marginal at best. However, in spring some littoralis develop a more ‘pale grey above and pink below’ summer plumage, something never shown by petrosus. The calls of Rock Pipit are a highpitched weesp, usually given singly and shriller than the familiar seep seep of Meadow Pipit.
Water Pipit
This species has an extensive range, breeding both in Europe and Asia. It could not be more ecologically distinct from its near-relative, however. This is a bird not of rocky coasts but of montane grasslands, our nearest birds (of the nominate form spinoletta) breeding high in the Alps and the Pyrenees.
In autumn it becomes an altitudinal migrant, moving downhill in all directions (including north into north central Europe) in search of freshwater habitats such as wet grassland, sewage farms and watercress beds. It is therefore one of the few European birds that moves north in winter, its most far-flung wanderers forming a small British wintering population, mainly in southeast England.
It is everywhere scarce in Britain, even in the South-East, and, due to its similarity to Rock Pipit in winter, it still causes regular identification conundrums for county records committees.
In winter, Water Pipit can best be distinguished from Rock Pipit by its brown-tinged upperparts, a contrasting grey nape, brown rump, whiter underparts, finer underpart streaking and a stronger supercilium.
In spring it acquires a bright grey and pink summer plumage, similar to but more striking than that shown by littoralis Rock Pipit, and can still be separated by its brown upperparts, contrasting nape and rump and cleaner appearance below. The two species are, however, largely separated by habitat, so location provides plenty of clues. Though differences in calls from Rock Pipit are often claimed, in reality the two are strikingly similar.
Buff-bellied Pipit
To compound the identification problems, there is today a ‘new kid on the block’. The now-split Buffbellied Pipit has a large range covering northern North America (where it is known as ‘American Pipit’) and eastern Asia.
The more widespread and northerly breeding of the two North American subspecies, rubescens, has long been on the British list (the first was found on St Kilda as long ago as 1910), but the last 10 years have seen a remarkable explosion of records, with 37 now recorded in Britain to the end of 2012 and another 18 in Ireland. This is now one of the most frequently occurring American passerines. These recent records have, as might be expected, mainly been in the north and west in autumn but a few have been found wintering in south-east England.
This astonishing upswing in records is no doubt partly fuelled by an increasing knowledge of its field characters, but there is also perhaps a genuine increase underway. American Pipit breeds as close as western Greenland and we may be witnessing the founding of new wintering grounds in north-west Europe.
Identification of American Pipit in autumn rests on its poorly streaked upperparts, pale lores and buffy underparts with narrow, distinct streaking. Its call is an abrupt tseep, often likened to a sharp, explosive Meadow Pipit call and frequently doubled or repeated.
Other possibilities
For the really enterprising there are further options too. Beyond the Alps lie other populations (and subspecies) of Water Pipit. Coutellii breeds in Turkey, the Caucasus, Iran and Turkmenistan, while blakistoni breeds in Central Asia and Mongolia. Neither is a particularly likely vagrant to Britain but fortune favours the prepared. A much more viable finding target, however, is the Asian form of Buff-bellied Pipit. This form – japonicus, often known as ‘Siberian Pipit’ – breeds across much of northeast Asia and winters in Japan, Taiwan and south-east China.
It is a longer-distance migrant and, as might be expected, there is a well-established pattern of westward vagrancy. Indeed, Siberian Pipit is regularly encountered in the Middle East. No further excuse is needed to keep searching and, to make the prospect of finding Britain’s first Siberian Pipit even more alluring, its plumage differences from American Pipit suggest that a future split is not an impossibility.
Siberian Pipit is generally darker above and whiter and more heavily marked below than its American counterpart and it can be pale-legged. Its calls are described as more closely resembling those of Meadow Pipit.
THREE: Adult littoralis Rock Pipit (Wilstone Reservoir, Hertfordshire, 15 March 2009). This spring littoralis Rock Pipit is very similar to the individual in the preceding image, and indeed many are unassignable to form even in spring. However, the very soft pinkish hues in the underparts hint at this bird’s true identity, as does the moderately prominent supercilium. A few spring littoralis are much brighter than this bird, showing more extensive pink below and reduced underpart streaking.
TWO: Adult petrosus Rock Pipit (Islay, Argyll, 20 May 2012). This petrosus Rock Pipit in worn spring plumage shows typically cold, grey hues in the upperparts with no hint of brown or warm tones. The underparts are very heavily marked with dark ‘blurry’ lines on a dull greyish-white background. There is a diffuse supercilium on this individual, about as pronounced as is ever seen on this form, but it does not detract from the bird’s overall rather uniform appearance. Note also the dark legs.
FOUR: Adult spinoletta Water Pipit (Hecho Valley, Pyrenees, Spain, 30 April 2004). This beautiful spring-plumaged Water Pipit shows a classic set of characters: a soft grey head and a distinct white supercilium contrasting with mid-brown upperparts. The underparts are strongly suffused pale pink and the streaking in the underparts is confined to some limited marks at the breast-sides and upper flanks only.
SIX: Rock Pipit (Margate, Kent, 15 November 2011). Winter-plumage petrosus and littoralis Rock Pipits are generally inseparable, both appearing rather plain faced, dark and swarthy with heavy and ‘blurry’ underpart streaking. This bird is especially heavily marked below and has noticeable brownish hues in the underparts, both features being more suggestive of petrosus. A definitive identification to form is probably unwise, however.
FIVE: Rubescens Buff-bellied Pipit (Connecticut, USA, 15 January 2011). With its brown, weakly marked upperparts and poorly streaked underparts, this bird might be taken at first glance for a winter-plumaged Water Pipit. However, on closer examination its lores are strangely pale (dark in Water Pipit) and its wingbars are not neatly defined and whitish as in Water Pipit but a softer, more ‘blurry’ greyishwhite. This combination of features indicates that this is, in fact, a Buff-bellied Pipit of the North American form rubescens.
SEVEN: Rock Pipit (Tuscany, Italy, 27 December 2009). This winter-plumaged Rock Pipit is very similar to the bird in the preceding image. It is plain faced, dark and rather uniform above and very well streaked below. However, its underpart streaking is a little less extensive and ‘blurry’ and the background tone is a little ‘cleaner’ and less brown. These features might suggest littoralis though, again, identification to form in this plumage is not safe. The real ‘giveaway’ here is the bird’s location – a bird in Italy will most likely be littoralis.
NINE: Water Pipit (St Agnes, Scilly, 21 October 2008). This is a rather more tricky bird, the fact that it is sitting on a rock adding to the impression that it must be a Rock Pipit. However, the supercilium, especially before the eye, is rather strong and the upperparts are strongly brown toned, lacking any subtle olive hues, the rump is contrastingly brown and the wing-bars are crisply white and clearly defined. These features are wrong for Rock Pipit. The whitish underparts, lacking any subtle yellow hues, and the neatly defined dark streaking becoming weaker on the flanks, add further weight to an identification as Water Pipit.
EIGHT: Water Pipit (Het Gooi, The Netherlands, 11 January 2009). This individual shows soft brown mantle and scapulars contrasting with a greyer crown and nape. Its face pattern is quite strong – a function of the broad and long whitish supercilium and a dark loral line – and its underparts are a strikingly clean greyish-white with fine streaking limited to the breast-sides and upper flanks. In combination, these are all classic features of winter-plumaged Water Pipit.
ELEVEN: Rubescens Buff-bellied Pipit (Queen Mother Reservoir, London, 13 December 2012). Though hardly a ‘stand-out’ species, Buffbellied Pipit nevertheless sports on close study a distinctive suite of features. Here again, the rather softly marked brownish upperparts, pale lores (though beware of head-on views which might give the impression of a dark loral line), buffy-toned and thinly streaked underparts and softly defined, rather ‘blurry’ wing-bars all add up to a rubescens Buff-bellied Pipit.
TEN: Rubescens Buff-bellied Pipit (Burton, Cheshire, 21 December 2013). This bird’s poorly streaked and warm brown upperparts should ring alarm bells as a potential Buff-bellied Pipit. Closer examination shows the characteristic pale lores and warm buff-suffused underparts with only fine, pencil-thin streaking. Although the median covert wing-bar is a little more pronounced than on some individuals, the greater covert bar is rather soft and ‘blurry’, again supporting an identification as rubescens Buff-bellied Pipit.
TWELVE: Japonicus Buff-bellied Pipit (Long Valley, Hong Kong, 24 January 2010). The plain lores and plain, brownish, unstreaked upperparts on this bird are strong pointers to Buff-bellied Pipit. However, it differs in several respects from a typical rubescens. In particular, its upperparts are rather dark and ‘cold’ looking, its wing-bars (especially the median covert bar) are crisply defined and white, the underparts’ streaking is rather extensive, heavy and blackish, the underparts’ background colour is white, the malar patch is prominent and the legs are pinkish. These features in combination are all characteristic of the Asian form japonicus.
THIRTEEN: Meadow Pipit (Scilly, 10 October 2005). When identifying pipits in the Rock/Water/Buff-bellied group, it’s always worth doing a ‘reality check’ to make sure that you’re not looking at a Meadow Pipit. This bright autumn Meadow looks reassuringly small and compact with bright buffy-brown hues throughout, a well-streaked mantle, clearly defined breast and flank streaking on a largely whitish background and, perhaps most helpfully, very bright orange legs.