The final issue American pipits have to deal with is nest success.

They are in the same family as the pipits and wagtails.

The adult male, unlike most pipits, is very easy to identify.

The back is brown, darker than most other African pipits', with dark streaks.

Although the call is generally helpful when identifying pipits, this species calls far less than most.

The pipits are active terrestrial birds that usually spend most of their time on the ground.

The diet of the pipits is dominated by small invertebrates.

Like their relatives in the family, the pipits are monogamous and territorial.

The pipits have a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring across most of the world's land surface.

From the North the American robin is seen along with pipits and mosquitoes.

Which is all very well if pipits and buntings are your thing, but what if they're not?

In general pipits move their tails quite slowly.

A study of meadow pipits, a small ground-nesting bird, lends support to this third theory.

The pipits are generally highly conservative in appearance.

The commonest among the birds are common crows, pipits and partridges.

The smallest-bodied bird family recorded as semi-regular prey are pipits.

On the open moorland you might see meadow pipits and wheatears.

The plumage of the pipits is generally drab and brown, buff or faded white.

Pipits are ground nesters, laying up to six speckled eggs.

Like their relatives the wagtails, pipits engage in tail-wagging.

Overall the robust longclaws are larger than the pipits and wagtails.

Two just-out-of-the-nest meadow pipits sat on a gate post.

Like most other pipits, this is an undistinguished looking species on the ground, mainly brown above and dark streaked buff below.

Like other pipits, this species is insectivorous.

Tree Pipits more readily perch in trees.