Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta)
Illustration redrawn by AI from a real photograph

Water Pipit

Anthus spinoletta (Linnaeus, 1758)

15–17 cmLength26 cmWingspan24 gWeight

This small pipit has a gray head and prominent white supercilium in the breeding season, and white outer tail feathers.

Busiest months: November–January and March · Most records: Spain, Israel, United Kingdom

Looks like Meadow Pipit

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

  1. Head gray with prominent white supercilium in the breeding season
  2. In the breeding season, upperparts gray-brown with faint markings, underparts pinkish-brown
  3. Outer tail feathers white
  4. Legs and feet and bill dark brown or black

Male, female and young

Sexes almost alike; juvenile resembles adult in winter plumage, but has browner upperparts and more stripes.

Voice

The call is a sharp, single or double “dzip”.

Similar species

Meadow Pipit
Meadow Pipit

Water Pipit has longer wings and tail, paler underparts, and dark rather than pink legs and feet.

Where and when it's recorded

Water Pipit has been recorded at 1,310 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 73 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

  1. International Birding and Research Center Eilat (IBRCE)Israel1,315 records
  2. Lezíria Grande de Vila Franca de Xira – área geralPortugal1,091 records
  3. Beddington FarmlandsUnited Kingdom938 records
More places
  1. Dubai Pivot FieldsUnited Arab Emirates912 records
  2. Titchwell Marsh RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom789 records
  3. Al Jahra Reserve (Restricted access)Kuwait733 records
  4. Aras Kuş Halkalama İstasyonuTürkiye714 records
  5. Private estate near Green MubazzarahUnited Arab Emirates677 records
  6. Mt. Kuro slopesGeorgia652 records
  7. Wamm FarmsUnited Arab Emirates623 records

Countries and regions with the most records

SpainIsraelUnited KingdomChinaPortugalUnited Arab EmiratesTürkiyeGermany

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The water pipit (Anthus spinoletta) is a small passerine bird which breeds in the mountains of Southern Europe and the Palearctic eastwards to China. It is a short-distance migrant; many birds move to lower altitudes or wet open lowlands in winter.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Water Pipit?

The Water Pipit is about 15–17 cm long, with a wingspan of 26 cm and weighs around 24 g.

Where does the Water Pipit live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: central, western, southern. It is most often recorded in Spain, Israel and United Kingdom.

When is the best time to see the Water Pipit?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in January, March, November and December (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Water Pipit endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Water Pipit as Least Concern.

What does the Water Pipit eat?

Main food: Insects & other invertebrates.

What family is the Water Pipit in?

It belongs to the family Wagtails, Pipits (Motacillidae), order Passerines (Passeriformes).

At a glance

Length
15–17 cm
Wingspan
26 cm
Weight
24 g
Habitat
Grassland
Diet
Insects & other invertebrates
Lifestyle
Active on the ground
Migration
Migratory
Conservation
Least Concern
More measurements
Wing
87 mm
Tail
63 mm
Bill
16 mm
Tarsus
23 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Palearctic: central, western, southern

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2

Subspecies · 1
  • Anthus spinoletta blakistoni s Russia and e Kazakhstan to sc Siberia, Mongolia and c China | non-breeding: Pakistan, India and s China

Classification

Order
Passerines Passeriformes
Family
Wagtails, Pipits Motacillidae
Genus
Anthus

Other birds in the genus Anthus

Richard's PipitRichard's PipitAnthus richardiPaddyfield PipitPaddyfield PipitAnthus rufulusAustralian PipitAustralian PipitAnthus australisNew Zealand PipitNew Zealand PipitAnthus novaeseelandiaeAfrican PipitAfrican PipitAnthus cinnamomeusMountain PipitMountain PipitAnthus hoeschiBlyth's PipitBlyth's PipitAnthus godlewskiiTawny PipitTawny PipitAnthus campestrisLong-billed PipitLong-billed PipitAnthus similisNicholson's PipitNicholson's PipitAnthus nicholsoniWood PipitWood PipitAnthus nyassaeBuffy PipitBuffy PipitAnthus vaalensis
Water Pipit

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Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Zeynel Cebeci. ↗

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