American Pipit

I've found a number of American Pipits (Anthus rubescens) two days in a row now, same general location.  These pipits are regular Fall visitors, stopping over on their migration south from the northern breeding grounds  They are very inconspicuous little birds.  I noticed them yesterday only because some were sitting on power lines.  Today I went looking for them to see if I could get a photo or two.  One obliged by being fairly close to the road and in a bare bit of ground.

 



American Pipits are highly migratory and travel during the day in loose, straggling flocks. Fall migration begins in mid-September through October, when weather begins to deteriorate on the Arctic breeding grounds. American Pipits winter throughout the southern United States south to the tip of Central America. Birds return to the Arctic in the spring, with the peak migration occurring from late March through early May.  BirdWeb

The pipits were in a mixed flock with many Horned Larks and a few Western Meadowlarks.