Hellmayr's Pipit

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. Their throat and underparts are buffy white with thin dusky streaks on the breast and flanks. Subspecies A. h. dabbenei is almost identical to the nominate but has a white spot near the end of the next-to-outermost pair of tail feathers. A. h. brasilianus has cinnamon edges on all of its wing feathers and its underparts have a cinnamon tinge. All subspecies have a dark brown iris, a blackish maxilla, a pale pinkish to yellowish mandible with a dark tip, and bright pink legs and feet.

Hellmayr's pipit has a highly disjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus:

A. h. hellmayri: eastern slope of the Andes from Puno Department in far southeastern Peru south through Bolivia into northwestern Argentina to La Rioja Province; separately in Córdoba Province; one record in Peru's Ayacucho Department A. h. dabbenei: Argentina from Córdoba and Entre Ríos provinces south to Santa Cruz Province and in adjoining eastern Chile; separately in Argentina on the Somuncurá Plateau in southeastern Río Negro Province A. h. brasilianus: southeastern Brazil from southern Espírito Santo and southern Minas Gerais south; southeastern Paraguay; from Paraguay south across northeastern Argentina's Corrientes Province into far southern Brazil; from southern Brazil south through eastern Uruguay into northeastern Argentina to eastern Buenos Aires Province Hellmayr's pipit inhabits a wide variety of open landscapes. In the western part of its range it favors moist puna grasslands. In the east it is more of a generalist, occurring in Pampas grasslands, rocky hillsides, pastures, and agricultural areas. Everywhere it favors short grass or short herbaceous foliage. The nominate subspecies occurs between 2,450 and 3,350 m (8,000 and 11,000 ft) in Peru and reaches 3,700 m (12,100 ft) elsewhere. Subspecies A. h. dabbenei reaches 3,600 m (11,800 ft). A. h. …

The diet of Hellmayr's pipit has not been studied but is known to include larval and adult insects. It forages on the ground while walking or running.