Pipit
The pipits are a cosmopolitan genus, Anthus, of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family Motacillidae. The genus is widespread, occurring across most of the world, except the driest deserts, rainforests and the mainland of Antarctica.
They are slender, often drab, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. Like their relatives in the family, the pipits are monogamous and territorial. Pipits are ground nesters, laying up to six speckled eggs.
Taxonomy and evolution
The genus has more than forty species, making it the largest genus in terms of numbers in its family. The exact species limits of the genus are still a matter of some debate, with some checklists recognising only 34 species. For example, the Australasian pipit, Anthus novaeseelandiae, which is currently treated as nine subspecies found in New Zealand, Australia and New Guinea, once also included the Richard's pipit and paddyfield pipit of Asia, and the African pipit of Africa. In addition it has been suggested that the Australian and New Zealand populations be split, or even that New Zealand's subspecies found on its outlying Subantarctic Islands be split from the mainland species. In part the taxonomic difficulties arise due to the extreme similarities in appearance across the genus. Two species have been identified comparatively recently in South Africa, the long-tailed pipit in 1996 and the Kimberley pipit in 2002.
Podcasts:
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby Dee
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Baby D
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by Bobby Day
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by Bobby Day
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by Bobby Day
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by Bobby Day
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by Bobby Day
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by Bebeto
The Robin's Tiny Throat
by: Baby DeeI woke up one morning heard a robin's song.
I asked that robin "Why do you sing?"
"It was a voice whose rhymes are worlds
That made my song for me
How could I not sing?"
I woke up on morning heard a robins song
I asked that robin "Who made your throat?"
"That same hand that flies a million dawns
Made my tiny throat and wrote my songs
How could I not sing?"
I built an arbor and I asked the vine
"How come you grow so tall?"
"If I can make it above the wall
That same hand that holds out hope for all
Will gild me in the morning sky
And though I cannot sing
That hand a gentle wind will bring
And make a rustling lullaby
For milky sleeping babes
How could I not grow?"
I woke up one morning and I asked the sky
"How can you bear such emptiness?"
"For that bright eye that looks out and smiles
And makes my night her day
What would I not bear?"
I woke up one morning and I heard her voice
She called me by my name
What would I not give
To be called her child
What would I not give
To be called her friend
I'm gonna wake up one morning I'm gonna see her face
Smiling down on me
That robin's song and that morning sky
Are all the hope I need
I don't know how and I don't know why
But I'm gonna wake up one morning and I'll see her face
Smiling Down on me
I'm gonna wake up one morning
I'm gonna wake up one morning