Pechora Pipit

A. gustavi is a small pipit, which somewhat resembles non-breeding red-throated pipit in plumage. It is heavily streaked brown above, with whitish mantle stripes, and with black markings on a white belly and buff breast below. It can be distinguished from red-throated pipit by its heavier bill, whiter mantle stripes, and contrast between its buff breast and white belly. This species creeps in long grass, and is reluctant to fly even when disturbed. Its call is a distinctive electrical zip. Although the call is generally helpful when identifying pipits, this species calls far less than most. This, combined with its skulking habits, makes this a difficult species to find and identify away from its breeding grounds in the Arctic. The best place in western Europe to see Pechora pipit, where it is a rare vagrant, is Fair Isle, Shetland. The lack of cover on this small island makes skulking passerines easier to find. The breeding habitat is damp tundra, open forest or marshland. The nest is on the ground, with four or five eggs being laid. It is insectivorous, like its relatives.

The genus name Anthus is from Latin and is the name for a small bird of grasslands. The specific gustavi commemorates the Dutch naturalist Gustaaf Schlegel. The English name is derived from the Pechora River in northwest Russia, where the first discovery of its breeding grounds was made by Henry Seebohm in 1875. The species was known earlier from its spring passage and wintering grounds, being discovered by Gustaaf Schlegel in Amoy (now Xiamen) in southeast China in the early 1860s.