Sunday 25 March 2007

Another LBJ - Meadow Pipit

Birders have a term for the many, basically brown, small birds that can be so confusing to identify, it's LBJ or little brown job! I suppose that apart from its' distinctive song the Skylark falls into this category and the Meadow Pipit certainly does. It has several similarities to the Skylark, it's brown, it's streaky, it's not very big, it nests on the ground in open country and it advertises its' presence by singing in the sky. Unlike the Skylark, its' song flight is not very long, and not very inspiring, although I think it is very evocative on a bright spring day. On the way up a series of swee swee notes is followed by a long trill as it parachutes to the ground or a low bush as did the one above. The rough grass between the cliffs and the fields are ideal habitat and several were brightening the day this morning.

2 comments:

isa said...

Oh, silly me...I thought the bird was named after our 36th President - Lyndon B. Johnson (we refer to him as LBJ)!
The song is pleasant enough, but I must record the songbird outside my bedroom window - aaamazing! But first, I must identify it ;-)

Tony Morris said...

Thw potential acronyms for the current encumbent are mind boggling!