- Tmetothylacus tenellus
Identification
14–16 cm
The adult male, unlike many pipits, is very easy to identify. It is yellow below and has yellow in the wings.
The female is a fairly typical brown pipit but has a yellow underside to the wing.
Similar Species
From the front it can be confused with a Yellow-throated Longclaw or Pangani Longclaw but neither have yellow wings (very obvious in flight) and both have a black line in the face.
Distribution
Africa: found in southeastern South Sudan, southern and eastern Ethiopia, Somalia, northern Uganda, eastern Kenya, and eastern Tanzania; partially nomadic or migratory.
Vagrants encountered south to South Africa.
Taxonomy
Reference [4] shows this species aligns genetically with the longclaws and should probably be placed in Macronyx
Subspecies
Clements regards this as a monotypic species [1].
Habitat
Bushed grassland in dry country, acacia scrub.
Behaviour
Diet
They forage in grass and bare ground for insects.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved April 2014)
- BF member observations
- Pietersen D.W., McKechnie A.E., Jansen R., Little I.T., Bastos, A.D.S. 2018. Multi-locus phylogeny of African pipits and longclaws (Aves: Motacillidae) highlights taxonomic inconsistencies. Ibis Vol. 161(4): 781-792. doi: 10.iiii/ibi.12683
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Golden Pipit. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Golden_Pipit
