Rock Pipit Ready

Tips for telling Rock Pipit from Meadow Pipit

Two Rock Pipits — photographed on the same winter’s day. Little wonder that less experienced birdwatchers might think they are two different species: the upper bird, because of its dark legs, being a Rock Pipit, whereas the pink-legged lower bird is, on account of its pale legs, a Meadow Pipit?

When you are young and read bird names for the first time, you never question the wisdom behind a baptismal rite, especially when the title is also printed in Latin, the scary stuff of Sunday mass. People that discover an interest in birds later in life are less intimidated. I tell them that Rock Pipits spend their lives in or near the high tide mark, looking for flies, creepy-crawlies and insect larvae in rotting seaweed or among the grassy strip that escapes cultivation behind the shore. I emphasise ‘seashore’ — Rock Pipits are birds of the marine coast. So when a listener says, ‘where does ‘Rock’ come from?’ I realise that I have been brainwashed since the day I encountered the moniker in The Observer’s Book of Birds.

If beginner birdwatchers had been considered when names were invented, more species might have contained a clue to identity in their title. Some are perfect — Long-tailed Tit on looks, Cuckoo on sound — but Rock Pipit doesn’t distil much of an essence, even though, as an epithet, it has a catchy feel. ‘Seashore Pipit’ might be a more practical handle. But then, during the winter months, another species — Meadow Pipit — can occur in the same habitat.

It is fair to say that experienced birdwatchers are seldom wrong-footed when it comes to telling a Rock Pipit from a Meadow Pipit. On the other hand, pointers to Rock Pipit make the species sound like the avian equivalent of a mole-rat — ‘murky plumage’, ‘dark legs’ and ‘outsize bill’ propel it into an ugly sister category. Rock Pipit is, in fact, a chameleon and some field guide statements turn out to be false. Let’s start with variability in overall plumage colouration. Some birds are pure monochrome — stony-grey or slate — but others are Barbour jacket olive or mouse-brown. Irrespective of colour cast, one unifying trait is that the bird’s costume has a ‘smoke-damaged’ look.

Rock Pipits are not conspicuous birds. They wander the seashore, sticking close to the high tide mark in search of insects and their larvae. Because the bird is restless and designed to blend in with the background, showy field marks would be a liability. Nonetheless, Rock Pipits are far from mundane. Most field guides attempt to stereotype the species as drab and dusky — a monochrome Plain Jane. Yet the more you see the more they vary — and break the rules by showing features that are supposed to be unique for Meadow Pipit, such as brown plumage or pinkish legs. Not all are as unmistakable as this bespectacled chimney sweep.

As with all pipits, the body plumage is renewed in autumn and then again in spring. Winter, therefore, is when it is least worn, making it consistent in appearance. At, say, 20m range, the underside is heavily marked. There may be a semblance of organised lines or just a blotchy mess. In the middle of the chest and down the flanks, the streaks are thick and dense — often so close that they leave little room for the off-white background. However, one region is uniformly pale and un-streaked. That area is the throat. Especially head-on, it resembles an unsullied bright bib hemmed in by dusky plumage.

Although Rock Pipit’s upper-parts are patterned, at 20m they seem relatively plain. Closer views reveal soft-focus striations across the back and shoulders. The crown has faint ‘comb lines’. The head can look quite uniform — an area of smooth plumage out of which leaps a dark eye surrounded by a glimmering Polo mint. White crescents around the eye suggest a blinking chimney sweep. The crescents are separated at the corners, although sometimes they appear to join. Their whiteness is helped by a blackish zone at the front of the face — between the eye and the bill. Although all Rock Pipits have a pale eyebrow (supercilium), it is highly variable. On some it is almost non-existent, whereas, on others, its strength may vary with a simple turn of the head, due to the interplay of angle and light. However, during the breeding season, wear and bleaching by sunlight can create a much bolder feature.

Field guides portray Rock Pipits with a long bill. Some illustrations resemble Pinocchio. Bird bills grow continuously but are ground down by feeding activities. In Rock Pipit, bill colour blackens in spring. It also starts to lengthen or fatten — or both. Depending on the individual, the bill may finish up looking attenuated or angled slightly upwards. In autumn and winter the bill base is pale, typically yellowish orange; it is also shorter than during the breeding season. In other words, bill size and colour vary with the seasons. It would appear that, to withstand added wear and tear during the breeding season, the bill is strengthened by melanin — making it both blacker and more hard-wearing.

Leg colour is another trap for the unwary. In line with bill colour, the legs darken during the breeding season, when most look fundamentally dark — if not actually black. However, during autumn and winter, the default colour, although drab, is pinkish. It is possible to expand the spectrum into mid-brown, cherry-red or smoky burgundy. Although some look ‘dark-legged’ the majority exhibit legs that are grubby pink. Probably, this is the default colour that changes — darkens — during the breeding season. Indeed, during late summer when wear and tear reduces the plumage of some to tatters, leg colour also ‘takes a hit’ and a few become strikingly pink-legged — as though drained of their melanin content?

The upshot is that a pipit with brown plumage, an average-size bill and dull pink legs — is well within Rock Pipit’s range of variation. Such individuals leave less experienced observers flummoxed.

Plate 1 A selection of Rock Pipits photographed photographed in November and December. 1 and 2 are virtually monochrome and dark-legged. Both have bright white eye-crescents; 2 shows the tell-tale white throat bib to good effect. 3 and 4 were noticeably olive-tinted in life. 3 shows a well-pronounced pale ‘whisker’ bounding its uniformly dark cheek. 4 shows how the whitish upper eye crescent often blends with the pale eyebrow. 5 has pinkish legs, a bright yellow bill base and a distinct brown tint to its ‘whisker’. 6 shows the hefty, almost thrush-like bill, seen on some in winter (in the breeding season, more birds develop a longer bill).

Where do you draw the line between Rock Pipit and Meadow Pipit — especially if only one bird is present and the smaller size and delicate build of Meadow Pipit cannot be gauged? In common with Rock Pipit, the plumage of Meadow Pipit is at its finest in winter. Unlike Rock Pipit, Meadow Pipit’s colour-scheme varies little during winter. Bright brown plumage overlain with neat black streaking makes Meadow Pipits look hand-painted. Viewed against a backdrop of dark seaweed, the plumage sparkles — its combination of brown, black and white takes on a brassy glow.

Setting aside a different colour cast, on Meadow Pipit the back and crown are boldly striped, the pale throat is not isolated as a bib and the face has a different expression. The eye is encircled by a cream-coloured ring, making it look like a bullet hole on a bland face. In relation to the size of the head, the eye often appears big — generating a look of innocence. Below the eye, the cheek is fawn, its lower margin circumscribed by a dark smudge.

Meadow Pipits have a well demarcated pale ‘jaw-line’, shaped like a hockey stick or Nike symbol. Although the same mark is present on Rock Pipit, it is variable. At best, it resembles a brown whisker.

Meadow Pipit has a smaller, paler bill than a Rock Pipit. It may be tilted slightly upwards, Peter Pan style. Meadow Pipit leg colour, anything between pink to pale orange, is cleaner and brighter than even the palest-legged Rock Pipit. The legs often look pellucid, almost ‘see-through’. At times it is possible to see Meadow Pipit’s long hind-claw — usually clearly longer than the length of the hind toe. Rock Pipit has sturdy legs and the hind-claw looks black and metallic. Rock Pipit’s hind-claw is about equal to the length of its hind-toe.

Plate 2 A selection of Meadow Pipits (and one Rock Pipit — labelled 6) photographed in November and December. 1 has the ‘baby face’ look of many individuals — and its bill is tilted slightly upwards, Peter Pan style. 2 shows the eye surrounded by a complete pale ring — not a pair of eye crescents, as in Rock Pipit. 3 shows how the cream-coloured throat radiates into a black-streaked breast and wraps around the cheek in a distinct pale jaw-line. 4 shows the long hind-claw of the species — also visible in 1. For comparison with Rock Pipit, see the bird top right in Plate 1. Individual 5 has yellowish-orange legs and illustrates the long pale jaw-line with a hook-shaped end — as well as the dark smudge outlining the cheek’s lower border (Rock Pipit’s cheeks are plain). 6 A ‘brown’ Rock Pipit for comparison. Brown-tinted Rock Pipits are not uncommon; their brownness is accentuated in side-angle winter sun. Despite the brown colour scheme, details such as the split eye-crescents, plain cheek and virtually non-existent pale jaw-line, rule out Meadow Pipit.

Two pipits (on the left, Rock Pipit, on the right, Meadow Pipit) that have pink legs. Both were photographed in December 2020 at the same place. It is easy to understand the confusion that sets in when inexperienced birdwatchers read incorrect field guide statements such as ‘Rock Pipit: best characters are usually dark legs [the words ‘dark legs’ are emphasised in italics] … never pink as in Meadow Pipit’ (Collins Bird Guide). Ignoring the red herring of leg colour, other features are more helpful in distinguishing the two — such as the bright, clean brassy look of Meadow Pipit with its bold brush-strokes plumage markings (notably across the back), big-eyed expression and the prominent ‘hockey stick’ of a pale jaw-like outlining the cheek.

Apart from subjective differences that become obvious over time, such as Meadow Pipit’s sprightly gait, erratic ‘treading water’ flight and ‘baby bird’ face, two further steers are diagnostic. The first is tail pattern; the second is voice. Occasionally at rest a bird will preen or stretch, revealing the tail pattern. Normally the best time to see the spread tail is when the bird takes flight. Meadow Pipit’s two outermost tail feathers have a broad white wedge. Rock Pipit has a less extensive pale wedge on only the outer tail feather — and the colour is closer to smoky-white or pale ash-grey. At the risk of over-complicating matters, on all birds the outermost tail feather has an asymmetric shape. Instead of being equally divided by a central shaft, its vanes are different in width. The vane on the outer side of the shaft — the outermost part of the outermost tail feather — is extremely narrow. Any colour here is reduced to a thin sliver alongside the feather shaft. Therefore, the pale margin on a Rock Pipit tail is really down to greyish-white on the inner vane (also called a web) of the outermost tail feather (see image 6, plate 3.)

Although vocabulary provides an infallible means of telling the two species apart, to an untrained ear the sounds are squeaky and superficially similar. In keeping with its smaller size and build, Meadow Pipit’s voice is higher-pitched and ‘mouse-like’. Its basic note is thin — seep — and is usually repeated in quick succession in a short random sequence, such as seep-seep, seep, seep-seep-seep. Meadow Pipit’s wiry voice comes across as timid, almost afraid. Rock Pipit has a stronger voice with more emphasis. Its note is penetrating and feels like a proper alarm note. Unlike Meadow Pipit’s multiple delivery, Rock Pipit often utters just a single note — although it may call twice in rapid succession. The note — feece — sounds quite like the word fleece, minus the second-letter L. It can also be likened to the sound of air being let out of a tyre. Recording uploaded on to https://www.xeno-canto.org/608600

Plate 3 A selection of Rock Pipits photographed in November and December. All except 4 are pink-legged. Note the variation in bill size — smallest on 3, biggest on 5 — and the brownness of 4. Individual 5 has a well-developed pale eyebrow. Individual 6 shows the extent of pale on the outermost tail feather. Note the white line of the feather shaft and the asymmetric vanes, either side of the white shaft. As a general rule, birds’ tail feathers have a narrow ‘vane surface’ on the outer side of each feather. The outermost tail feather has the narrowest vane of all and is no more than a sliver of feather surface.

ALL CHANGE IN SPRING

Pipits moult their body feathers twice a year. The wings and tail — and a few of the bigger covert feathers that cloak the folded wing at rest — are moulted during August and September, making the autumn moult a complete belt-and-braces replacement of everything. Also in autumn, the year’s juveniles have a change of body feathers and some wing coverts. Except that a bird of the year was examined in the hand, its ‘first-winter’ plumage would be identical to that of an adult. Therefore, for all the population, the winter months are a time when appearance is standard.

As early as February, some start to renew body plumage. To complicate matters, the timing and the extent of the moult is a personal decision. The upshot is a bit of variation with, by March, a slight difference in appearance between individuals. By and large, Ireland’s breeding birds are believed to be resident, although youngsters disperse — looking for a gap in an existing territory or searching for pastures new. Studies in Scotland and the Faeroe Islands quoted in the BTO Bird Migration Atlas confirm that the species is fairly sedentary. Furthermore, data on Rock Pipit density on a dozen stretches of British coastline (and also Cape Clear Island, Co. Cork) showed that the species is a year-round resident [1]. Stay-at-home tendencies are borne out by a long-term ringing programme conducted on the Welsh island of Skokholm, off the Pembrokeshire coast. From 1952 to 1965, not one of 2,000 Rock Pipits dispersed more than a few kilometres. The furthest travelled only as far as the coast of mainland Wales [2]. Youngsters ringed down the years on Fair Isle, Scotland, got further: such as the Orkney Islands and East Lothian [3].

Ireland’s wintering Rock Pipits are not all local stock, however. Populations that breed across Scandinavia and the Baltic are migratory and head south for the winter because their shoreline habitats freeze over. These belong to a different littoralis subspecies — ‘Scandinavian Rock Pipit’. In contrast to Irish, Faeroese and British populations, Rock Pipits from northern Europe reach Atlantic coastlines from Holland to Morocco — as well as around the Mediterranean. Although, in Ireland, there has been just one ringing record of a Scandinavian Rock Pipit that came from Norway to County Down, there is no doubt that a proportion of our wintering birds hail from overseas. The scale of Scandinavian Rock Pipit migration reaching Ireland is unknown. But it may be insignificant. In data from the Welsh island of Bardsey, roughly 50km east of Co. Wicklow, the incidence of trapped Scandinavian Rock Pipits among Rock Pipits amounted to zero between 2008–2012: ‘since we began the colour-ringing [of Rock Pipits] four years ago, we have trapped 350 [Rock Pipits] and no littoralis [Scandinavian Rock Pipits]. [4]

Across Britain, Scandinavian Rock Pipit is a common winter visitor. Autumn passage migrants occur right down the British east coast and then continue inland — ‘invariably westwards’ — such as 350 passing Sheringham on the Norfolk coast in one day in early October 1990 (BTO Bird Migration Atlas). In Britain, because the areas occupied by Rock Pipits in winter are devoid of Rock Pipits at other times of the year, it is easy to be certain that the winter birds are Scandinavian. Moreover, the birds’ origins have, in many cases, been confirmed by ringing. What is more interesting is that many British winter visitors utilise salt-marsh habitats — and avoid ‘typical’ Rock Pipit habitat.

Because, in winter, no plumage differences are evident between the respective populations, it is not possible to look at a Rock Pipit between October and February and determine if it is Irish or Scandinavian. Ringed Scandinavian Rock Pipits, photographed in Britain, are identical to local stock. Although some Rock Pipits show ‘above average’ amounts of white in the outer tail and may possess a more striking eyebrow, such individuals cannot be regarded as ‘proven’ Scandinavian Rock Pipits — due to variation in Rock Pipit plumage.

That situation changes when body plumage is moulted in spring. Differences start to arise as early as the end of February. Because Irish residents replace one set of body feathers with essentially similar plumage — like with like — there is no appreciable difference in how they look. Despite being published as long ago as 1940, there is no more reliable source than Witherby’s Handbook of British Birds for solid information on plumage. Here is the relevant passage dealing with the spring moult in British and Irish Rock Pipits, ‘the body plumage is moulted in Feb.-April … new [body] feathers like winter but very slightly less olive on upper-parts and usually slightly less olive-buff and more whitish on under-parts and the streaks rather browner and less olive. When worn, dark centres of feathers of upper-parts become more distinct and fringes are greyer, under-parts paler. NB — occasionally there is a slight pinkish-buff tinge on throat and such specimens are very difficult to distinguish from some specimens [of Scandinavian Rock Pipit], but crown of latter is usually greyer.’

Unlike ‘our’ Rock Pipits, Scandinavian Rock Pipits moult into distinctive breeding attire, most marked in males. New back plumage is somewhat plainer and bluish and the underparts are fused with pink. Because the new plumage is, in effect, courtship ware, the birds are keen to migrate. Consequently, the time window to distinguish any Scandinavian Rock Pipits that spent the winter — or that pass through on spring migration — is narrow. The species is hardy and returns to breeding habitat to coincide with thawing conditions in March. A Swedish colour-ringed Scandinavian Rock Pipit that was in Norfolk in February was back on its breeding site in Sweden by 26th March. Incidentally, ringing records indicate that migrant Scandinavian Rock Pipits are faithful to both breeding site and winter quarters.

A Rock Pipit photographed in mid-May. Following a moult of body plumage in the early spring (late Feb. to early April), the head and breast feathers are new — but are very similar to what went before. Despite being only about two months old, the tips of many feathers are already frayed — such as at the side of the chest. Either because the replaced plumage is, in places, whiter or has become so through bleaching by sunlight, the upshot is that the head pattern is more dramatic with a more pronounced eyebrow than in winter. More striking is the bill — now fully black. The legs, although the colour is less easy to see, are also dark.

1 Tucker, J.J. Rock Pipit territory densities in Britain. British Birds 74: (1981) 526–527.

2 Evans, P.R. 1966. Some results from the ringing of Rock Pipits on Skokholm 1952–1965. Report of Skokholm Bird Observatory 1966: 22–27.

3 Report on bird-ringing for 1967. British Birds 61: (1968) 517.

4 Excerpt from an excellent blog by Steve Stansfield entitled We Bird North Wales. The specific date for the entry is 21 September 2012.