Red-throated Pipit

Overview

Red-throated Pipit: Medium pipit, brown streaked upperparts, heavily streaked white underparts. Face, chin, throat, upper breast are orange-brown. Crown is pale brown. Brown wings have two white bars. Tail is white-edged. Bill is black. Legs and feet are pink. Eats mostly insects, also eat seeds.

Range and Habitat

Red-throated Pipit: Regular migrant on Bering Sea islands; rare migrant along California coast; casual inland. Prefers wet, grassy habitat around lakes, dams, and ponds; often encountered in disturbed areas such as irrigated lands and other wet cultivations.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Red-throated Pipit is very territorial when breeding and displays with horizontal or parachuting song flight.
There are 40 species of pipits worldwide, they are slender and often drab with medium to long tails.
While displaying his courtship dance the male repeatedly flies from 50 to 200 feet high and then soars downward singing his courtship song with his legs straight out and his his tail upright.

The Red-throated Pipit is a small passerine bird. This species typically breeds throughout far northern Europe and Asia, as well as northern Alaska in the United States. During winter months, this bird migrates long distances to Africa, south and eastern Asia, as well as the western coastline of the United States. They may rarely be found in Western Europe. Breeding grounds are open country, mountains, marshes and tundra. Nests are built on the ground in marshlands. Diets consist mainly of small insects, but the Red-throated Pipit may also occasionally feed on seeds. The conservation rating for this bird is Least Concern.