Departing Pipit

The Australian Pipit is an open habitat bird that can occupy a wide range of grassland, farmland and wasteland locations. It is mostly sedentary and stays in the same place for several seasons.

Pipit - recorded at Gum Scrub Ck wetland 2019, 2020 & October 2021

The camouflage and shy nature of the Pipit means it is not often seen although it is described in some references as a common and abundant bird. The first sighting is usually when the bird is accidentally flushed. It generally flies off close to the ground for a short distance, lands, wags its tail up and down (the Pipit is related to the Wagtail), and then seems to completely disappear as it merges into its surroundings.

Australian Pipits are very terrestrial. They feed on ground-level insects and build their nest in a simple depression in the ground.

Some researchers suggest the Pipit is in decline due to improved pasture, pesticides, predation and urbanization.

A survey in October by Friends of Drouin’s Trees recorded Australian Pipits in Gum Scrub Creek wetland, right beside the Two Towns Trail, just east of Hopetoun Rd. The Gum Scrub Creek wetland birds have been seen there for several seasons now and appear to have been well established.

June 2019

For how much longer?

Circa 2019

A new sub-division in the location will certainly impact on the bird’s habitat. It will be interesting to see if the bird survey in April 2022 records a Pipit in Drouin. (An as yet unidentified Sun-orchid was recorded in the same location on the same day last month)

November 2021

Like the Pipit, the time to move on is approaching?