Meadow pipit, Anthus pratensis (protonym, Alauda pratensis), also known locally as the mippit, photographed at Ouse Fen, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Image: Richard Thomas/TRAFFIC, April 2008 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Question: If you saw this UK mystery bird whilst out walking one spring morning, what sort of habitat would you be walking through? Can you identify this species?
Response: This is an adult meadow pipit, Anthus pratensis. This bird can be distinguished from the red-throated pipit, A. cervinus, because the later is more heavily streaked in breeding plumage and, as its name suggests, it has an orange-red throat, which the meadow pipit lacks. The meadow pipit is smaller and less heavily streaked than the tree pipit, A. trivialis, which also has bolder facial markings.
Song is another distinguishing feature: although similar sounding, the meadow pipit's song speeds up at the end whilst that of the tree pipit slows down.
Here's a video of a meadow pipit standing on a fence post and chatting:
If you encounter this bird whilst walking, you would know you are walking through open countryside that consists either of bogs or moorland, or pastureland. Although unusual, you may also run across this species in more intensively-used farmland. This bird always feeds and nests on the ground, but it does perch on shrubs, fences or power lines to watch for predators. (Its habits remind me in some ways of North American meadowlarks.)
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