Australasian Pipit

Well-camouflaged, brown, ground-dweller with pale pink/grey bill and feet.

Identification

Well-camouflaged, brown ground-dwelling bird, with darker brown streaks above and pale creamy white stripes on the eyebrows and below the cheeks. Underparts are creamy white, spotted and streaked dark on the breast. Wings and tail are dark brown, with the outermost tail feathers white. Bill and feet are pale pink-grey.

Habitat

Open country, in a range of habitat types from saltmarshes to dry shrublands and open woodland clearings.

Distribution

Across Australia

Feeding and diet

Diet consists of insects and their larvae, as well as seeds. It forages in a jerky, darting motion, stopping to perch on low stones or shrubs, wagging its tail up and down.

Breeding behaviours

Breeding pairs are formed after an elaborate courtship ritual, with males making swooping dives from a height, accompanied by a sweet trilling song. The nest is a depression in the ground, sometimes sheltered by a grass tussock, stone or piece of wood, and lined with grasses and hairs. The female incubates the eggs and feeds the young.