Anthus cinnamomeus
Silhouette: Susan Murphy (original photograph), T. Michael Keesey (vectorization) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The African pipit (Anthus cinnamomeus) is a fairly small passerine bird belonging to the pipit genus Anthus in the family Motacillidae. It is also known as the grassveld pipit or grassland pipit. It was formerly lumped together with the Richard's, Australian, mountain and paddyfield pipits in a single species, Richard's pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae), but is now often treated as a species in its own right.
It has some defining characteristics, such as light brown feathers on the head and back, dark brown feathers on the lower back and tail, and a white chest. Some 15 subspecies are recognized: A. (c.) camaroonensis Shelley, 1900 – highlands of western Cameroon Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Maputo | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | |
| 3 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 5 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 6 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 9 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 10 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Grassveld Pipit sighting in Mombasa on a given day, based on 27 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 91st most-seen of the 146 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Grassveld Pipit in Mombasa on a given day, against under 5% in August and November–December, the lowest months. That is one of Mombasa's wettest months, with about 220 mm of rain against 15 mm in February.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Grassveld Pipit sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 11
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Grassveld Pipit sightings, Mombasa ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania, about 30%) and Maputo (Mozambique, about 20%).
Same family: Motacillidae
The closest relatives of the Grassveld Pipit that you can see in Mombasa (family Motacillidae, Wagtails and Pipits) are African Pied Wagtail (about 30%) and Yellow-throated Longclaw (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Grassveld Pipit is recorded against all the birds logged in Mombasa (27 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.
