Paddyfield Pipit
Anthus rufulus
Also known as: Paddy Field Pipit
Habitat
Ground
Diet
Invertebrate
Active Time
Diurnal
Size
20 g
About This Species
A streaky, ground-dwelling pipit found in open grassland, farmland, and airfields across South and Southeast Asia, often seen walking with a distinctive tail-pumping motion rather than hopping. It flushes low over grass when disturbed and delivers a simple song during a rising display flight, especially in the breeding season. Short, open grassy areas in the early morning are the most reliable places to watch it feeding on insects.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Give it space to continue feeding or displaying undisturbed, since repeated flushing in open ground offers it no cover to retreat to and wastes energy.
- Legal protection for common grassland birds differs across its wide range, so caution rather than any specific assumed statute is the safer guide.
- Walking slowly and staying on tracks rather than cutting across open grass reduces the chance of disturbing a ground nest, which can be very hard to spot underfoot.
LCAvesPasseriformesMotacillidae
Seasonal Activity
281,792 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
Traits
- Diet
- Invertebrate
- Foraging
- Ground
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Body mass
- 20 g
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.