Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Anthus pratensis

Silhouette: Susan Murphy (original photograph), T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~20% · Possible
at Liverpool

In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%

827 Verified sightings at Liverpool
10,550 In all 23 parks From 2019 to 2026
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Meadow Pipit

The meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) is a small passerine bird that breeds throughout much of the Palearctic, from south-eastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated population also occurs in the Caucasus Mountains. It is migratory over most of its range, wintering in southern Europe, North Africa, and south-western Asia, but is resident year-round in western Europe, although even here many birds move to the coast or lowlands in winter.

The meadow pipit was formally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Alauda pratensis. The type locality is Sweden. The meadow pipit is now the type species of the genus Anthus that was introduced in 1805 by German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. The species is monotypic; no subspecies are recognised.

The generic name Anthus is the Latin name for a small grassland bird mentioned by Pliny the Elder, and the specific name pratensis means "of a meadow ", from pratum, "meadow". The name "pipit", first documented by Thomas Pennant in 1768, is onomatopoeic, from the... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Flight call0:08

France · 2025

© Guillaume Bigayon · XC1186846 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Song1:16

Norway · 2026

© Elias A. Ryberg · XC1152107 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Call0:27

Poland · 2024

© Jarek Matusiak · XC947654 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~50%
2 Vatnajokull National Park 🇮🇸 Iceland
~40%
3 Cairngorms National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~30%
4 Biebrza National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
~30%
5 Snowdonia National Park 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~30%
6 Kiskunság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~20%
7 Doñana National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~20%
8 Camargue 🇫🇷 France
~20%
9 Monfragüe National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~20%
10 Sierra de Guadarrama National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
11 Sierra Nevada National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~10%
12 Hortobágy National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%
13 Fertő-Hanság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%
14 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
15 Picos de Europa National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
16 Vanoise National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
17 Białowieża National Park 🇵🇱 Poland
<5%
18 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
19 Tatra National Park 🇸🇰 Slovakia
<5%
20 Gauja National Park 🇱🇻 Latvia
<5%
21 Cévennes National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
22 Aigüestortes National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
23 Triglav National Park 🇸🇮 Slovenia
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Ramallah 🇵🇸 Palestine
~30%
2 Liverpool 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~20%
3 Antalya 🇹🇷 Turkey
~20%
4 Rabat 🇲🇦 Morocco
~20%
5 Sincan 🇹🇷 Turkey
~20%
6 Manchester 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
~10%
7 Karaj 🇮🇷 Iran
~10%
8 Dublin 🇮🇪 Ireland
~10%
9 Lisbon 🇵🇹 Portugal
~10%
10 Helsinki 🇫🇮 Finland
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Meadow Pipit in Liverpool?

Possible

About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Meadow Pipit sighting in Liverpool on a given day, based on 827 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 52nd most-seen of the 168 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Meadow Pipit in Liverpool?

September and October

In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Meadow Pipit in Liverpool on a given day, against about 10% in June–August and December–February, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Meadow Pipit?

Between 11 am and 2 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Meadow Pipit sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Liverpool the best place to see a Meadow Pipit?

2nd of 48

Of the 48 cities where we can rate Meadow Pipit sightings, Liverpool ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Ramallah (Palestine, about 30%).

Where does the Meadow Pipit sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Meadow Pipit is recorded against all the birds logged in Liverpool (827 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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