In the early 1990s, Dr Richard Liversidge, of the McGregor Museum in Kimberley, started noticing peculiar pipits around the town, and in 1996 the description of Long-tailed Pipit Anthus longicaudatus was published (see p.135).

The distribution and movements of this new species are poorly known, although it seems to be a non-breeding winter visitor (May to early September) to the Kimberley region. Pipit field identification is notoriously subjective, and separating Long-tailed from the similar Plain-backed and Buffy Pipits is less than clear. You will need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the selection at Beaconsfield (see opposite) and elsewhere before attempting to sort them out. The publication of the description of a second new pipit — the ‘Kimberley Pipit‘ — is imminent, and visitors are cautioned to have a close look at all of the similar Long-billed Pipits around Kimberley. For updates, visit the African Bird Taxonomy page at www.birdingafrica.com.

Identification: Long-tailed is a large, heavily built pipit with a distinct eyebrow and an unstreaked buffy back, crown and mantle (unlike Grassveld, Long-billed and ‘Kimberley’). Unlike Buffy Pipit, it has a distinctly yellow base to its lower mandible, like Plain-backed Pipit. Other subtle characters that may separate it from Buffy and Plain-backed are its slightly longer tail and darker colour, more horizontal jizz when feeding, and an even higher rate of tail-wagging, involving the entire lower body.