Anthus cervinus (Red-throated pipit) 

Rooikeelkoester [Afrikaans]; Roodkeelpieper [Dutch]; Pipit de Kimberley [French]; Rotkehlpieper [German]; Petinha-de-garganta-ruiva [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Passeriformes > Family: Motacillidae > Genus: Anthus

Red-throated pipit, Ethiopia. It is a rare vagrant in southern Africa. [photo Stephen Davis ©]

Distribution and habitat

Breeds in the Arctic tundra from northern Scandinavia to Siberia and western Alaska, heading south in the non-breeding season to Asia, the eastern Mediterranean coast and sub-Saharan Africa, from southern Mauritania to Somalia south to northern Tanzania. It is a vagrant to southern Africa, with three records on opposite sides of the region: one in the Swakop River mouth in central Namibia, another in Chirundu, Zimbabwe and finally one in Umvoti River mouth, KwaZulu-Natal. In its non-breeding grounds it generally prefers wet, short grassy habitats around water bodies, such as lakes, dams and pans, especially with lots of mud.

Food 

It does most of its foraging in short grass, plucking insects from the ground.

References

• Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.