Hellmayr's pipit

Hellmayr's pipit
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Anthus
Species:
A. hellmayri
Binomial name
Anthus hellmayri
  Breeding   Year-round

Hellmayr's pipit (Anthus hellmayri) is a species of bird in the family Motacillidae, the wagtails and pipits. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.[2]

Taxonomy and systematics

Hellmayr's pipit was described by Ernst Hartert in 1909 with its current binomial Anthus hellmayri. Hartert's specific epithet hellmayri honors Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr; its English name came later.[3]

Hellmayr's pipit has these three subspecies:[2]

Some authors suggest that genetic differences among the subspecies are large enough that two full species may be present.[4]

Description

Hellmayr's pipit is about 14 to 16 cm (5.5 to 6.3 in) long. Subspecies A. h. brasilianus weighs 16.5 to 20 g (0.58 to 0.71 oz) The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies A. h. hellmayri have a pale buff head with a paler area around the eye. Their upperparts are pale buff with bold blackish brown streaks. Their wings are dusky with whitish edges on the primaries and tertials and buff edges on the secondaries. Their wing coverts have buff edges that show as two wing bars. Their tail is mostly dusky with mostly buffy white outermost feathers. Their throat and underparts are buffy white with thin dusky streaks on the breast and flanks. Subspecies A. h. dabbenei is almost identical to the nominate but has a white spot near the end of the next-to-outermost pair of tail feathers. A. h. brasilianus has cinnamon edges on all of its wing feathers and its underparts have a cinnamon tinge. All subspecies have a dark brown iris, a blackish maxilla, a pale pinkish to yellowish mandible with a dark tip, and bright pink legs and feet.[4]

Distribution and habitat

Hellmayr's pipit has a highly disjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus:[4]

Hellmayr's pipit inhabits a wide variety of open landscapes. In the western part of its range it favors moist puna grasslands. In the east it is more of a generalist, occurring in Pampas grasslands, rocky hillsides, pastures, and agricultural areas. Everywhere it favors short grass or short herbaceous foliage.[4] The nominate subspecies occurs between 2,450 and 3,350 m (8,000 and 11,000 ft) in Peru[5] and reaches 3,700 m (12,100 ft) elsewhere[4]. Subspecies A. h. dabbenei reaches 3,600 m (11,800 ft).[4] A. h. brasilianus is mostly found from sea level to 750 m (2,500 ft)[4] but locally reaches 2,200 m (7,200 ft) in Brazil[7].

Behavior

Movement

Hellmayr's pipit is a partial migrant. The nominate subspecies and A. h. brasilianus are year-round residents. Subspecies A. h. dabbenei vacates the area south from Argentina's Neuquén Province and adjoining Chile during the austral winter, moving north as far as Córdoba and Entre Ríos provinces in north-central Argentina. (Note that the map does not show this winter range.)[4]

Feeding

The diet of Hellmayr's pipit has not been studied but is known to include larval and adult insects. It forages on the ground while walking or running.[4]

Breeding

The breeding season of Hellmayr's pipit varies geographically. In Brazil it spans at least September to April.[8] In Bolivia it includes November to January, in Argentina September to February, and in Chile from September to January.[4] Males make a flight display that can reach 60 m (200 ft) above the ground with a spiral descent to the ground. At least in Argentina, both sexes build the nest[4]. The nest is a domed cup made mostly of grass on the ground or attached to low vegetation. The clutch is three to five eggs that are grayish to creamy white with brown or olive-brown spots.[4][10] In a study in Argentina incubation lasted 13 to 14 days and fledging occurred nine to 14 days after hatch.[4] Both parents provision nestlings.[4][10]

Vocalization

Hellmayr's pipit sings from a perch, such as a shrub or fence post, and during the display flight. In Brazil its song is a "very/extr. high, short, hurried twitter ending in a nasal drawn-out note, together as tritfitwitweét-trutfutwuit-srèèh, given in 2-3 sec intervals".[7] A study in Chile's Arauco Province found its flight song there is "a relatively fast sequence of 3–7 short, complex, high-pitched notes interspersed with a short buzz that becomes longer at the end of the song". When perched it sings a shorter song with shorter buzzes and sometimes just "high-pitched complex warbling notes".[4]

Status

The IUCN has assessed Hellmayr's pipit as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range; its population size is not known and is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is "[l]ocally uncommon to frequent as a breeding species". However, its status in Argentina and Chile is not well understood. "Habitat fragmentation and land cover change are the main threats to this species."[4]

References

  1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2018). "Hellmayr's Pipit Anthus hellmayri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018 e.T22718597A131989841. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22718597A131989841.en. Retrieved 9 March 2026.
  2. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (March 2025). "Waxbills, parrotfinches, munias, whydahs, Olive Warbler, accentors, pipits". IOC World Bird List. v 15.1. Retrieved 6 March 2026.
  3. ^ Hartert, Ernst (1909). "Notes sur les oiseaux de la Republique Argentine". Novitates zoologicae: A Journal of Zoology in connection with the Tring Museum (in French). XVI. Zoological Museum, Tring: 165. Retrieved March 9, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Norambuena, H. V., M. A. Colombo, F. Rivas Fuenzalida, S. Tyler, and E. de Juana (2024). Hellmayr's Pipit (Anthus hellmayri), version 3.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, F. Medrano, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.helpip1.03 retrieved March 9. 2026
  5. ^ a b Schulenberg, T.S.; Stotz, D.F.; Lane, D.F.; O'Neill, J.P.; Parker, T.A. III (2010). Birds of Peru. Princeton Field Guides (revised and updated ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 518. ISBN 978-0691130231.
  6. ^ Hosner, P. A., M. J. Andersen, M. B. Robbins, A. Urbay-Tello, L. Cueto-Aparicio, K. Verde-Guerra, L. A. Sánchez-González, A. G. Navarro-Sigüenza, R. L. Boyd, J. Núñez, J. Tiravanti, M. Combe, H. L. Owens, and A. T. Peterson (2015). "Avifaunal surveys of the upper Apurímac River Valley, Ayacucho and Cuzco Departments, Peru. New distributional records and biogeographic, taxonomic, and conservation implications". The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 127:563–581.
  7. ^ a b c van Perlo, Ber (2009). A Field Guide to the Birds of Brazil. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 284–285. ISBN 978-0-19-530155-7.
  8. ^ a b Ferreira de Vasconcelos, Marcelo; Esteves Lopes, Leonardo (October 2011). "On the wide occurrence of the Hellmayr's pipit Anthus hellmayri in the espinhaço range, Southeastern Brazil, with comments on its natural history". Interciencia. 36 (10). Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  9. ^ Lowen, James C.; Clay, Robert P.; Barnett, Juan Mazar; N., Alberto Madroño; Pearman, Mark; Lanús, Bernabé López; Tobias, Joe A.; Liley, Durwyn C.; Brooks, Thomas M.; Esquivel, Estela Z.; Reid, Jane M. (1997). "New and noteworthy observations on the Paraguayan avifauna". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 117 (4): 278. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  10. ^ a b Rivas, Francisco; Norambuena, Heraldo V.; Grandón Díaz, Catalina; Seitz, Sophie N.; Peña Bello, Esteban (4 December 2023). "Description of the eggs and nest, with notes on the breeding ecology of Hellmayr's Pipit Anthus hellmayri dabbenei in Chile". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 143 (4). doi:10.25226/bboc.v143i4.2023.a5.
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