Blyth’s Pipit Anthus godlewskii (Taczanowski, 1876)
Holt Bay, Blagdon Lake © Nigel Milbourne 2016
Very rare, vagrant. May occur September to December.
One, first-winter, 14th-30th Dec. 2016 (N.R. Milbourne et al).
I first saw the bird on 14th Dec. in Holt Bay. It was clearly a pipit sp. with a body not much larger than a Meadow Pipit, with striking features that included its pale colour, pale lores, sparse upper breast streaking, peachy underparts, short tail, upright gait, apparent long, pale, tarsi and a feeding action that reminded me of a Wheatear. I grabbed half a dozen distant pictures at the time which confirmed my notes. It was in view for 3-5 minutes and disappeared while I referred to a field guide. A search later with Andy Davis failed to relocate it. Discussion with Andy centred on possible identification, and I told him I suspected Blyth’s as the most likely possibility, but he suggested other possible, though unlikely, candidates would need to be ruled out. While driving along the access road on 18th Dec. I was surprised to see it again, on its own, in the same place. I watched it for a few minutes, and then drove to the far end of the lake. I saw it again on the way back. During the WeBS count on 19th Dec. Andy rang to say he’d been watching it (for the first time) in the same place and had obtained some pictures. I said to him “It’s a Blyth’s”, having researched it very thoroughly the previous evening. Unfortunately, although the WeBs team were only yards away, it was flushed by a helicopter before we got there. I re-found it later on Rainbow Point, and the WeBS team had excellent prolonged views. We were joined by Andy and Richard Mielcarek. Being fairly satisfied with the identification as a Blyth’s Pipit (no call heard though), we contacted the county recorder John Martin and Keith Vinicombe. Richard Mielcarek described the bird to John over the phone and he suggested Blyth’s without being told of our thoughts, and Keith got to site as we finished the count and watched it until almost dark and told me he was also satisfied it was a Blyth’s Pipit.
The bill was short, with a fine tip and broad base. Pinkish at the base of the lower mandible with a dark tip. Gape pink. Lores pale. Quite a broad cream supercilium particularly behind the eye which was accentuated in the field by the densely-streaked cap. Heavy black crown streaks. Eye ring noted, as was a short black moustachial stripe. The lateral throat-stripe was fine and indistinct and didn’t end in a blotch as in Richard’s Pipit. The nape appeared to be slightly paler than the crown. The breast, belly and undertail were essentially peachy-buff in colour with a stronger cinnamon suffusion on the upper rear flanks. The chin was buff. There was a gorget of fine pencil streaks across the upper breast, that were dark brown rather than black (noted in my photos). The legs were orange, especially when viewed from behind, and slightly more flesh-coloured when viewed from the front, but this seemed to vary depending on the intensity of sunlight and background it was viewed against. I asked a number of other viewers what colour they thought the legs were and often got the answer “pink”. The tarsus appeared long and the rear toe was the same length as the short’ish lightly curved claw. The bird had a chat-like gait. It often hopped and jumped with both legs, ran at considerable speed when it chose to, and had a very different feeding action to the Meadow Pipits with which it associated on 19th Dec. The Meadow Pipits moved with their heads down in a random fashion, whereas the Blyth’s feeding action was often likened to that of a plover – run directly, pick, and run etc. The back appeared to be quite pale when I first saw it, with ill-defined streaks along the length, reminiscent of a Tawny Pipit. However, I could rule Tawny out due to its pale lores. The tail was short unlike a Richard’s Pipit and when I saw it in flight on the first day beside a Meadow Pipit it appeared to be barely larger in size. So, this left very few candidates for its identification. Tree Pipit was easily ruled out due to the pattern of streaking, although juvenile Meadow Pipit could be similar. Over the weekend I’d read more about Blyth’s key features and knew we had to hear it call and see the tail pattern. On the 19th while trying to photograph it, some of the watchers told me they’d seen the classic tail pattern when it briefly spread the tail during preening. The white on the 5th feather was angled, Terry Doman said for about 20-25% of its length. Richard Mielcarek saw the rump and suggested it was plain, with no obvious streaking. The tertials masked the primaries as suggested in the literature. In the field I could not see any median coverts for most of the time, but on some occasions the outer two median coverts were visible and photos show these to have dark centres with white fringes indicative of their being retained juvenile feathers. There was a fine crescent formed by the white tips on the greater coverts. I guess the overall pale colour was due to a delayed moult from juvenile to 1st-winter plumage, and lack of wear.
On the 20th Dec., the bird was left on its own when the pipit flock moved ahead of it at Rainbow Point. It suddenly flew up and overhead, when we heard it call for the first time. I wrote the call down as a thin, “see-ooo”, which was high-pitched and fairly quiet. I also noticed that it was dipping its tail in a downward motion frequently when walking around feeding. Occasionally, it would spring up with both legs to catch an insect, or jump over a small puddle.
I watched the bird daily, except for 25-27th Dec. inclusive, and spent most of my time trying to get visiting birders onto it. There were lots of pictures taken and some video has since appeared on the internet as well (e.g. Nigel Tucker and Jeff Hazell). I also have some video. It preferred to feed on the exposed lake bed either at the water’s edge or on the moss-covered sediment, occasionally coming right up to the edge of the meadows to feed among ruderal weeds. I was amazed at how much food it was apparently finding and estimated that it was defecating about once every minute or two! Its appearances became more infrequent during the last couple of days that I saw it, and despite looking for it for hours on the 30th Dec. I didn’t see it. Kevin Shales contacted me later in the day to say he’d seen it with ‘Andy’ after I’d gone home at 1510 hrs in Holt Bay briefly, before it flew to Wood Bay. I don’t know Kevin so cannot comment on whether this was a ‘good’ sighting. I was surprised at how many birders had to be ‘put on the bird’ before they could see it was different to the Meadow Pipits to be honest. There was another rather curious pipit present that also had a more upright gait than the other Meadow Pipits, and also held its tail cocked and wing in a drooped fashion like a chat. I think this bird probably had a slight injury to one wing, but was nevertheless a Meadow Pipit. It did cause confusion for some visitors.
On a couple of occasions, I saw the Blyth’s fly south over the farm meadows to roost on Holt Farm or at the yoghurt factory. It also seemed to suddenly appear from that direction when it had gone missing, so it is possible that it may still be around on the farm, having found a preferred feeding area. I will keep a keen eye out for it in the coming week or two, just in case it puts in another appearance by the lake.
Bibliography (sources of information):
- Rose, Dr H.E. (ed.). Avon Bird Report, 2016. Avon Ornithological Group.
Last update: 2nd December 2024