Short-billed Pipit

Overview

The short-billed pipit, Anthus furcatus, is a species of bird in the family Motacillidae. It is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN with a population that is believed to be stable.

Identification

• Adults are 14 to 14.5 cm long and weigh about 20 g, with a blackish brown head featuring a whitish supercilium, eye-ring, and black moustache.
• Upperparts are blackish brown with buffy brown feather edges creating a scaled appearance, and wings show two buffy wing bars.
• Underparts are whitish with a strong ochraceous cast on the breast and flanks, plus blackish streaks across the upper breast.
• The song consists of an introductory broad-spectrum buzz followed by rapidly repeated musical notes described as 'gleeeeeeeu-teedeleh-tleetleetlee'.

Habitat

This species inhabits temperate grasslands. Its range covers Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil, southern Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina from Tucumán Province south to Chubut Province.

Diet

The diet includes insects and other invertebrates and is thought to also include seeds, though it has not been extensively studied. Foraging takes place by walking and running on the ground.

Did you know?

During the breeding season, males perform a flight display that can reach 80 m above the ground and last almost an hour.