AI overview
Anthus spinoletta is a small songbird species found across mountainous and rocky regions of Europe and Asia. It matters as an indicator of high-altitude alpine ecosystems and serves as an important part of the food web in remote mountain habitats.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Species
SPECIES
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassAves
- OrderPasseriformes
- FamilyMotacillidae
Maximum longevity: 8.8 years (wild)
via GBIF
Bird sounds
- call· Germany· quality A
- flight call· France· quality A
- flight call· Turkey· quality A
- flight call· United Arab Emirates· quality A
via Xeno-canto
Article
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.
The water pipit in breeding plumage has greyish-brown upperparts, weakly streaked with darker brown, and pale pink-buff underparts fading to whitish on the lower belly. The head is grey with a broad white supercilium ("eyebrow"), and the outer tail feathers are white. In winter, the head is grey-brown, the supercilium is duller, the upperparts are more streaked, and the underparts are white, streaked lightly with brown on the breast and flanks. There are only minor differences among the three subspecies, the sexes are almost identical, and young birds resemble adults. The water pipit's song is delivered from a perch or in flight, and consists of four or five blocks, each consisting of about six repetitions of a different short note.