Tmetothylacus tenellus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The golden pipit (Tmetothylacus tenellus) is a distinctive pipit of dry country grassland, savanna and shrubland in eastern Africa. It is native to Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, and has occurred as a vagrant to Oman, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The adult male, unlike most pipits, is very easy to identify. It is yellow below and yellow in the wings. From the front the yellow throat and breast with the dark band does resemble the yellow-throated longclaw or Pangani longclaw, but neither have yellow wings (very obvious in flight) and both have a black line in the face. The female golden pipit is a fairly typical brown pipit but has a yellow underside to the wing.
It is gold in colour. Videos, photos and sounds - Internet Bird Collection Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Pipit sighting in Meru National Park on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 201st most-seen of the 243 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Golden Pipit in Meru National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, June, September–October and December–January, the lowest months. That is one of Meru National Park's wettest months, with about 200 mm of rain against almost none in July. May and July–August have too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Golden 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.
4th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Golden Pipit sightings, Meru National Park ranks 4th at about 10%. The best odds are in Tsavo East National Park (Kenya, about 40%), Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 30%) and Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 20%).
Same family: Motacillidae
The closest relatives of the Golden Pipit that you can see in Meru National Park (family Motacillidae, Wagtails and Pipits) are African Pied Wagtail (about 30%), Mountain Wagtail (about 20%) and Western Yellow Wagtail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Golden Pipit is recorded against all the birds logged in Meru National Park (12 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
