Malindi Pipit
Anthus melindae
A large pipit with a long, strong bill and legs and a long tail. Shows heavy streaking on the underparts, brown upperparts, and a strong pale eyebrow. The base of the bill and the legs are bright pinkish-yellow. Found in coastal grasslands, especially seasonally flooded ones, and cultivated areas. Can be separated from other pipits by a combination of range, habitat, large size, sturdy structure, dark plumage overall, and very heavy streaking below. The song is a slowly repeated “churee” note, and the common call is a rising “sveet.”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Anthus melindae
- Authority
- Shelley, 1900
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Anthus
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Saddle-billed Stork
Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis
A tall, lanky, black-and-white stork with a unique red, yellow, and black bill. The male has dark-brown eyes, and the female has yellow eyes. In flight, the bird’s massive size, and the dark bands in the center of the white wings are diagnostic. Scarce but conspicuous; mostly resident but can be partially nomadic in parts of the range. Found singly or in pairs at rivers and large undisturbed wetlands, foraging for favorites like catfish, but it will also take frogs, birds, and insects.
Hooded Grosbeak
Coccothraustes abeillei
Handsome, chunky finch of humid evergreen and pine-evergreen forest in foothills and highlands. Usually in pairs or small groups, feeding on fruit in canopy or seen in flight high overhead, when best detected and identified by call. Note the stout, pale greenish-yellow bill and contrasting black wings with a big white to pale gray panel. Male has black hood and yellow body. Female has black cap and dingy pale underparts.
Yellow-rumped Munia
Lonchura flaviprymna
Small finchlike bird with brown wings, pale bill, and yellowish rump. Found in areas with tall grass, often in flocks beside rivers or floodplains, sometimes mixed with other seed-eating species. Pale gray head contrasts with dark brown back and wings, underparts pale buff, and rump and tail dark yellowish tone. Juvenile very plain, easily confused with juvenile Chestnut-breasted (which has less uniform upperparts) or Pictorella Munia (which has shadow pattern of dark ear coverts, recalling adult’s).
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