American Pipit (Maybe)

American Pipit (Maybe)

Bird spotted on the slopes of Flattop Mountain, RMNP, July 2007. Initial tentative identification was Rock wren, but CSUMarmot suggests an American pipit -- that's not an exact fit either, feel free to correct us. See comments.
Arthur Digbee
on Jul 31, 2007 3:29 pm
Image Type(s): Wildlife
Image ID: 318488

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CSUMarmot

CSUMarmot - Jan 14, 2011 4:47 pm - Voted 10/10

It might be

an American Pipit. This past summer hiking just north of Flattop in the Bighorn Flats, we saw many of these birds just dart out of the rocks on the tundra. We looked carefully and found several nests with spotted eggs. They were literally everywhere and startled you as they would not evacuate their nest until you were just a few feet away from their nest. The pipits would then land on a nearby rock and act injured, as to decoy you (the predator) away.

The wikipedia article I was looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buff-bellied_Pipit described the bird to nest in the tundra, and pictures show them to have very large round eyes, which was something I remembered from seeing the birds.

Arthur Digbee

Arthur Digbee - Jan 14, 2011 5:18 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: It might be

You've got its behavior right, and I like your pipit identification more than my wren; it's not unlike some sparrows too. But I still hesitate: the belly is not brown/orange enough for an adult and not spotted enough for a juvenile, though as you say the eye is right. It does have the right hint of color on the neck.

So I'm switching to a tentative pipit, but perhaps someone will come along and correct us both!

Thanks for the suggestion.

CSUMarmot

CSUMarmot - Jan 14, 2011 5:30 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: It might be

It definitely was difficult finding a matching picture to this one, so for now he'll keep his shroud of anonymity.
Great shot though, I could barely keep an eye on the flitting things through binoculars let alone try and take a picture of one!
Chris

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