American Pipit

Anthus rubescens

Once called the Water Pipit, the American Pipit breeds both in high alpine zones of the western USA and into the tundra of Alaska and Arctic Canada.

Today’s taxonomists recognise four subspecies of American Pipit:

A. r. rubescens breeds in northern Alaska east to the Canadian Maritime Provinces, and northern New England. They spend winters in the southeastern USA and northeastern Mexico, and sometimes south to Guatemala.
A. r. pacificus breeds from the Aleutian Islands east across south-central Alaska to the Northwest Territories, and south along the Cascades and Rocky Mountains to Oregon and southern Alberta. They spend winters from Arizona and west Texas south to Oaxaca (Mexico).
A. r. alticola breeds in the Rocky Mountains from Montana south to central Arizona and northern New Mexico and in the Sierra Nevada of California, with reports from further north to southeastern Oregon and south to the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California. They spend winters in the southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico.
A. r. japonicus (Buff-Bellied Pipit) breeds in eastern Siberia and spends winters across southern Asia, from northern India and east to Japan. Future DNA analysis may show that A. r. japonicus will warrant a split into a separate species.

Studies have shown American Pipits have been shifting their preferred nesting territories northward over the past 100 years. Some researchers speculate this is a response to the shifts in global climate patterns.

Most of us will only meet these birds on their winter grounds. They forage with a Tringa-like bouncing walk through grasslands or agricultural fields. Or you might see them along the edges of streams or lakes, as they search for invertebrate prey. The winter bird meetings I have enjoyed have come from California (in my home County of San Diego, in the Great Central Valley, and at the Salton Sea). East of California, I’ve met them in New Mexico (at Bosque del Apache NWR and Bitterlake NWR), and in Texas (at Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park).

30 Photos

American Pipit - Anthus rubescens — **American Pipit**
*(Anthus rubescens)*

**Description:**
Community Park along Rattlesnake Creek in Poway, California. San Diego County.
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**Date Taken:** 2015:01:07 11:43

**Location:**

Community Park
Poway, California
United States
452.78 ft above sea level

**Camera Information:**
NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/400

**File Name:** D3X4943-AmericanPipit

© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com

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Pin It — **American Pipit**
*(Anthus rubescens)*

**Description:**
Community Park along Rattlesnake Creek in Poway, California. San Diego County.
Read More

**Date Taken:** 2015:01:07 11:43

**Location:**

Community Park
Poway, California
United States
452.78 ft above sea level

**Camera Information:**
NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/400

**File Name:** D3X4943-AmericanPipit

© 2015 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com

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