Small passerine bird that breeds in western Europe
European rock pipit
On Heligoland in the North Sea
Bird recorded in Pembrokeshire, Wales
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Passeriformes
Family:
Motacillidae
Genus:
Anthus
Species:
A. petrosus
Binomial name
Anthus petrosus
(Montagu, 1798)
Breeding summer visitor
Resident year-round
Winter visitor (ranges are approximate)
Synonyms
Anthus spinoletta petrosus (Montagu, 1798)
The European rock pipit (Anthus petrosus), or simply rock pipit, is a species of small passerine bird that breeds in western Europe on rocky coasts. It has streaked greyish-brown upperparts and buff underparts, and is similar in appearance to other European pipits. There are three subspecies, of which only the Fennoscandian one is migratory, wintering in shoreline habitats further south in Europe. The European rock pipit is territorial at least in the breeding season, and year-round where it is resident. Males will sometimes enter an adjacent territory to assist the resident in repelling an intruder, behaviour only otherwise known from the African fiddler crab.
European rock pipits construct a cup nest under coastal vegetation or in cliff crevices and lay four to six speckled pale grey eggs which hatch in about two weeks with a further 16 days to fledging. Although insects are occasionally caught in flight, the pipits feed mainly on small invertebrates picked off the rocks or from shallow water.
The European rock pipit may be hunted by birds of prey, infested by parasites such as fleas, or act as an involuntary host to the common cuckoo, but overall its population is large and stable, and it is therefore evaluated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
^BirdLife International (2018). "Anthus petrosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22718567A131987689. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22718567A131987689.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
and 29 Related for: European rock pipit information
The Europeanrockpipit (Anthus petrosus), or simply rockpipit, is a species of small passerine bird that breeds in western Europe on rocky coasts. It...
Rockpipit may refer to either of two species: Europeanrockpipit, Anthus petrosus African rockpipit (or yellow-tufted pipit), Anthus crenatus This disambiguation...
problems; the water pipit and the buff-bellied pipit were both formerly considered subspecies of the Europeanrockpipit. Of these, the rockpipit is the more...
found a home here as breeders, including the Mediterranean gull and Europeanrockpipit in some years. Many geese, ducks, great cormorants, and waders rest...
meadow pipit, dunnock and Eurasian reed warbler are the most common hosts in northern Europe; garden warbler, meadow pipit, pied wagtail and European robin...
birds with medium to long tails. They include the wagtails, longclaws and pipits. They are slender, ground feeding insectivores of open country. Two subspecies...
partridge, the Eurasian eagle-owl, the black woodpecker, the tree pipit, the water pipit, the alpine chough, the red-billed chough, the white-winged snowfinch...
hodgsoni A Pechora pipit, Anthus gustavi A Red-throated pipit, Anthus cervinus A Water pipit, Anthus spinoletta A Europeanrockpipit, Anthus petrosus Order:...
Global Information
