Tawny Pipit

The tawny pipit is a large pipit 16 cm long with a wingspan of 25–28 cm, undistinguished on the ground, mainly sandy brown above and pale below. It is very similar to Richard's pipit but slightly smaller, with shorter wings, tail and legs and a narrower dark bill. It breeds in much of the central Palearctic from north-west Africa and Portugal to central Siberia and Inner Mongolia, in dry open country including semi-deserts (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a migrant, moving in winter to tropical Africa and the Indian subcontinent. The flight is strong and direct, the call a characteristic schip, higher pitched than Richard's, and the song a short repetition of a loud disyllabic chir-ree chir-ree. The nest is on the ground, three to six eggs are incubated mainly by the female for about 12 days, and both parents feed the nestlings. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority, a winter migrant of open habitat with a Large range of about 719,000 km², a rapid long-term decline of about 67% and a current decline of about 6% a year (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).