Pipit at Jebel Dhanna Hotel - Friday 13 December 2019

Hi Mark & Tommy, I really appreciate you taking the time to look at these questions. I find pipits so challenging but I love them. The challenge for me is understanding the range of plumage for each species and looking through the Oriental Birds website, for instance, this can be very wide. A few years ago I saw the BBPs at Hamraniyah Nursery and they certainly aligned with the classic description. Your reply really helps to bring clarity.

I think the Gallery has a photo of Water Pipit with reddish legs as well.

You were correct with Water Pipit, Steve. Once seen, Buff-bellies are really quite distinctive, being quite contrasty birds with clean, creamy white underparts with strong streaking and a very heavy black malar stripe. Upperparts are a unique olive-grey tone with minimal streaking. They usually have a fairly obvious pale supercilium, enhanced by pale, plain lores. Legs are pale pink, very different to most of the other "smaller" pipits. Although your pipit has reddish legs, they're often not totally black on Water Pipits.