Eurasian rock pipit
| Eurasian rock pipit | |
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| On Heligoland in the North Sea | |
| Bird recorded in Pembrokeshire, Wales | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Motacillidae |
| Genus: | Anthus |
| Species: | A. petrosus |
| Binomial name | |
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Anthus petrosus (Montagu, 1798) |
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Breeding summer visitor
(ranges are approximate)Resident year-round Winter visitor |
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| Synonyms | |
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Anthus spinoletta petrosus (Montagu, 1798) |
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Anthus spinoletta petrosus (Montagu, 1798)
The Eurasian rock pipit (Anthus petrosus), or just rock pipit, is a species of small passerine bird that breeds in western Europe on rocky coasts. It has streaked greyish-brown upperparts and buff underparts, and is similar in appearance to other European pipits. There are three subspecies, of which only the Fennoscandian form is migratory, wintering in shoreline habitats further south in Europe. The Eurasian rock pipit is territorial at least in the breeding season, and year-round where it is resident. Males will sometimes enter an adjacent territory to assist the resident in repelling an intruder, behaviour only otherwise known from the African fiddler crab.
Eurasian rock pipits construct a cup nest under coastal vegetation or in cliff crevices and lay four to six speckled pale grey eggs which hatch in about two weeks with a further 16 days to fledging. Although insects are occasionally caught in flight, the pipits feed mainly on small invertebrates picked off the rocks or from shallow water.
The Eurasian rock pipit may be hunted by birds of prey, infested by parasites such as fleas, or act as an involuntary host to the common cuckoo, but overall its population is large and stable, and it is therefore evaluated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The family Motacillidae consists of the wagtails, pipits and longclaws. The largest of these groups is the pipits in the genus Anthus, which are typically brown-plumaged terrestrial insectivores. Their similar appearances have led to taxonomic problems; the water pipit and the buff-bellied pipit were considered subspecies of the Eurasian rock pipit until they were separated by the British Ornithologists' Union in 1998. The Eurasian rock pipit is closely related to the meadow, red-throated and rosy pipits as well as its former subspecies.
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