Red-throated Pipit

The red-throated pipit is a small passerine that breeds in the far north of Europe and the Palearctic, with a foothold in northern Alaska, and is a vagrant to western Europe. In the breeding season an adult is easily identified by its brick-red face and throat; in other plumages it is undistinguished, heavily streaked brown above with whitish mantle stripes and black markings on a white background below (Wikipedia, general species account).

Its flight is strong and direct and it gives a characteristic psii call. The breeding habitat is open country including mountains, marshland and tundra, and the nest is built on the ground, often beside a grass tussock or on a hummock in a marsh. Four to six eggs are incubated by the female for nearly two weeks and the young fledge about 12 days later. It is insectivorous like its relatives but also eats seeds.