This species is widely distributed with four subspecies found in New Zealand.  Anthus novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae inhabits rough grasslands, sand dunes and rocky terrain throughout New Zealand, Stewart Island and off shore islands.  The other three subspecies occur on the Chatham Islands, Antipodes Island and the Auckland and Campbell Islands.

This slender bird runs and walks jerkily on long legs flicking its long tail up and down.  Unlike the Skylark it does not soar high.

The head and upperparts are brown, streaked darker with a prominent white eyebrow.  The underparts are whitish, streaked brown on the breast and the outer tail feathers are white.  The common call is a shrill “scree” or drawn out “zwee” and the territorial song of the male which is heard from August to February is a repeated high pitched and slurred “pipit” and a musical trill.

The diet is mainly invertebrates, especially beetles (including grass grubs), wasps, flies, spiders, crickets, moths and bugs, insect larvae and pupae and sandhoppers.  They also take seeds of grasses, clover and weeds.

Some pairs remain on territory all year and breed year after year.  The female builds the bulky grass nest with a deep cup which is usually well hidden at the base of a clump of grass, tussock, bracken fern, manuka bush, or on the side of a bank.  Between August and February 2-3 clutches of 2-5 cream eggs, heavily blotched brown with a darker zone ath the broader end are laid.  The female incubates for 14-15 days and both parents feed the nestlings which fledge at 14-16 days old. 

It is thought that the New Zealand Pipit has declined locally and disappeared from some arable districts in part due to the introduction of pesticides and mammalian predators and Magpies.

The New Zealand Pipit is occasionally seen on Tiritiri Matangi Island.

Photography by:  Ian Southey © (left, adult; right, juvenile)

References: Heather, B.D.; Robertson, H.A. 2000 The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Auckland, Viking.
Moon, G The Reed Field Guide to New Zealand Birds.