Long-billed Pipit

Taxobox
name = Long-billed Pipit
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Motacillidae
genus = "Anthus"
species = "A. similis"
binomial = "Anthus similis"
binomial_authority = Jerdon, 1840

The Long-billed Pipit or Brown Rock Pipit ("Anthus similis") is a passerine bird which breeds in much of Africa, through the Arabian peninsula and South Asia. Most birds are residents or short distance migrants.

The Long-billed Pipit’s breeding habitat is dry open slopes with rocks and low vegetation. The nest is on the ground, with 2-4 eggs being laid.

This is a medium-large pipit, 16-17.5 cm long, but is an undistinguished looking species on the ground, mainly sandy grey above and whitish or pale buff below. It is very similar to the Tawny Pipit, but is slightly larger, has a longer tail and a longer dark bill.

The Long-billed Pipit’s flight is strong and direct, and it gives a characteristic "chupp" call, similar to Desert Lark. Its song is like that of the Tawny Pipit, but slower and more varied, "sri...churr...sri...churr…sri..churr". Like its relatives, Long-billed Pipit eats seeds and insects.

The Woodland Pipit ("Anthus nyassae"), an inhabitant of miombo woodland in south-central Africa, was formerly treated as a subspecies of this bird but is now usually regarded as a separate species. Some authorities also split Bannerman's Pipit ("Anthus (similis) bannermani"), a bird of mountain grassland in West Africa.

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern