(Mr Ramanan took these photos to help us id the bird)The intitial consensus was tree pipit. But looking at the bird books have confused me more.
Also, we always saw it in the scrub below and not in a tree....
So, could it be Richard's Pipit? But the I dont see the long hind claw.
Paddyfield pipit? Its a bit bigger than a paddyfield isnt it?
And what about Blyth's then?!!
Please pick your choice!
Whatever it's called, it's mighty cute!
ReplyDeleteKamini.
Looks like Indian Tree Pipit, Anthus hodgsoni, Note sure of what the current common name is.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shyamal!
ReplyDeleteAnthus hodgsoni is called "olive-backed pipit" in Grimmett. Is that the one you mean? The tree pipit is Anthus trivialis?
Listen, please Don't give me a headache. For all I know about birds it could be an eagle or a Sandpiper. I can only say is that it isn't a crow or a pigeon:)
ReplyDeleteThere is a new comment on the post "The 10,000 Birds Clinic".
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Author: Jochen
Comment:
Hi Ambika!
Wow, neat pictures.
I am sorry this will be a bit of a short answer for now as today's time
is limited. I'll answer in more detail on Monday unless Charlie - who
now seems to be either serving coffee, birding or asleep - steps in in
the meantime.
Your bird looks very much like a Tree Pipit indeed, and Paddyfield and
Richard's Pipits can probably be ruled out by details of e.g. the head
pattern and hind claw. Those details will be discussed on Monday.
Have a nice weekend filled with birds until then!
There is a new comment on the post "The 10,000 Birds Clinic".
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Author: Charlie
Comment:
Ambika - Apologies I thought I'd mailed an answer before I left for
Cape Town (where I am now). It certainly looks like a Tree Pipit form your
excellent photo (and definitely not Paddyfield, Richards, or Blyths).
I don't have any books with me to check on the range, as the only thing
that surprises me is that a Tree Pipit should be so far south this
late on - but I'm confident (along with Jochen) that this is what this
bird is.
There is a new comment on the post "The 10,000 Birds Clinic".
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Author: Charlie
Comment:
Hi again Ambika. Your photos are so good that all the critical ID
pointers can be seen. If you would give me permission to use your photos I
would really like to write a longer ID post on 10,000 Birds (I'd link
back to you of course)than I can here, but the extent of the streaking on
the rear flanks and the structure alone rules out the larger pipits
like Richards, Blyths, and even the smaller Paddyfield (they have longer
legs and longer bills for instance, and tend to stand more upright) and
most importantly they have long/medium-long 'flatter' (ie less curved)
claws on the hind toe: Tree Pipits (A. trivialis) and Olive-backed
Pipits (A. hodgsoni) have the short, curved claw your bird shows.
The only small pipit in southern India that shows a combination of
heavy breast streaking against a buff background and such extensive and
NARROW streaking on whitish rear flanks, coupled with a heavily streaked
mantle is Tree (Olive-backed - as the name suggests - has a
greenish-tinged mantle that is nowhere near as heavily streaked). The face pattern
is reminiscent of Olive-backed, but Tree often shows the buffy front
part of the supercilium (which I've never noticed on the larger pipits by
the way): Olive-backeds almost invariably show a light and dark patch
just behind the ear-coverts - even a worn Olive-backed would show it
more than this bird - and a startlingly white rear supercilium.
I'm posting a photo of an Olive-backed Pipit I took in Hong Kong a few
years ago. It's not the best image on the net, but it does show that at
any angle an OBP has a far more distinctly marked face than a Tree and
a more diffusely streaked mantle.
Incidentally habitat is sometimes a clue to the ID of these pipits. If
the bird you've found is out in the open it could, in theory, be any
one of India's pipits, but if its in a closed forest it will almost
certainly NOT be a Richard's, Paddyfield, or Blyth's which are all typically
found in open grassland, along the edges of rice-paddies etc.
That's quite a generalised write-up (and ignores species like Water,
Rosy, and Red-throated as they're so different anyway) but I hope it
helps a little.
Hi Ambika,
ReplyDeleteI am fairly confident that you are correct wrt
your id of Tree Pipit.
Paddyfield complex can be ruled out based on the dark streakings on
the underside particularly on the flanks - the only other species you
can confuse it with a Olivebacked Pipit (formerly Indian Tree Pipit) -
however , your bird does not have the dark patch behind the
ear-coverts which should have been present in an Olivebacked.
best rgds
Praveen
Yes definitely a very lovely tree pipit (A. trivialis. What was the date again?vens123
ReplyDelete