Bird name:

Olive-backed Pipit

Anthus hodgsoni

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Wagtails and Pipits (Motacillidae)

Code 4

OBPI

Code 6

ANTHOD

ITIS

178495

Breeding Location:

Grasslands, Bushes

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Casual to accidental in AK, Accidental in CA & NV

Egg Color:

Light violet or gray with dark blotches

Number of Eggs:

4 - 5

Incubation Days:

12 - 13

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Dried grass, hair and moss.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Olive-backed Pipit: Medium-sized pipit with finely streaked, olive-green upperparts. Underparts are white on chin, belly and undertail coverts, and pale brown with bold dark streaks on sides and breast. Eyebrow is buff-orange in front and white behind eye. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Olive-backed Pipit: Native to Eurasia, but sometimes strays to islands off the west coast of Alaska. Prefers open grassy areas and hills, especially along rivers and bogs, and spruce-fir forests.

Breeding and Nesting

Olive-backed Pipit: Four or five light violet or gray eggs with dark blotches are laid in a bulky nest made of dried grass, hair, and moss, and built on the ground, sheltered by a bush or beside a grassy tussock. Incubation ranges from 12 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Olive-backed Pipit: Eats mainly insects, but takes some seeds, especially outside the nesting season; forages on the ground or in low trees, often working wet areas and shorelines of rivers, streams, lakes, and bogs.

Vocalization

Olive-backed Pipit: Song is a metallic "seep-seep-sia-sia." Call is a nasal "tsee."

Similar Species

Olive-backed Pipit: Pechora Pipit is smaller, stockier, whiter on underparts, has paired white streaks on back and black-streaked brown upperparts. Tree Pipit has more heavily streaked and browner back, and more distinct head pattern.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Undertail coverts

Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Chin

The area of the face just below the bill.

Eyebrow

Also called the supercilicum or superciliary it is the arch of feathers over each eye.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America