An enthusiastic birder who I encountered on a trail earlier this week excitedly informed me that she had just seen a pipit. Before I had a chance to respond, she described for me the general area where she had seen the bird. I am pretty familiar by now with Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, so I knew that I would have no trouble finding the spot. I thanked her and we continued on our separate ways.
It suddenly dawned on me that I had no idea what a pipit looked like or the kind of habitat that it preferred—all I had was a name and a general location. When I arrived at the location, the intersection of two trails, I started looking around for birds. I spotted some familiar species and then started to watch one particular bird that caught my eye. At first I thought it was a sparrow, but it seemed to act differently from other sparrows, including wagging its tail from time to time.
The unknown bird eventually flew into a small tree and I was able to capture some unobstructed images of it. Had I somehow managed to find a pipit? I posted a photo on a Facebook bird identification and folks there confirmed that my bird was in fact an American Pipit (Anthus rubescens).
It’s nice to be lucky sometimes when it comes to photographing wildlife.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Nice pictures, Mike. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.
I don’t think they are all that common, which explains why the birder was so excited.
Benjamin and I adore this new (to us) American Pipit! Wonderful photos, Benjamin says : “He is a cutie!” He just loves saying the name over and over, it is kind of fun to do. We are now going to look for more information about Pipits. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
I can see why the name is so much fun for him–I like the way that it sounds too (and it’s easy to pronounce).
Nice! I never saw one before seeing your photo.