Buffy Pipit vs Hellmayr's Pipit

Buffy Pipit

Anthus vaalensis

Small27 gGrassland

Its length is 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in), and its weight is 23–36.6 g (0.81–1.29 oz). It is often confused with the plain-backed pipit because both species have plain upperparts. The upperparts of the buffy pipit are paler and buffier than the plain-backed pipit. The buffy pipit has a pale supercilium, and its lower mandible has a pinkish base. It has faint markings on the breast, and the belly and flanks are buffy. The juvenile has mottles.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Paul Hoekman · CC BY 4.0

Hellmayr's Pipit

Anthus hellmayri

Small19 gGrassland

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. Voice: 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".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) RAP, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by RAP · cc-by

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Buffy Pipit and Hellmayr's Pipit.