Meadow pipit
Anthus pratensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
The meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) is a small bird in the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup, belonging to the family Motacillidae in the order Passeriformes. It is a terrestrial invertivore of grassland, with an adult body mass of 18.4 g and a wingspan of 26 cm.
Quick facts about the meadow pipit
The meadow pipit is partially migratory and has a geographic range of 6,734,000 km². It lays 4.8 eggs per clutch with 2 clutches per year, and the IUCN Red List assesses it as Least Concern, not a threatened category.
- Weight
- 18.4 g – 19 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 26 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 7.73 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 8.75 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grasslandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 13.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.78src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the meadow pipit?
Photos of the meadow pipit
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the meadow pipit live?
Not recorded
What is the meadow pipit?
The meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis) is a small passerine bird that breeds throughout much of the Palearctic, from south-eastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; an isolated population also occurs in the Caucasus Mountains. It is migratory over most of its range, wintering in southern Europe, North Africa, and south-western Asia, but is resident year-round in western Europe, although even here many birds move to the coast or lowlands in winter.
From the Wikipedia article “Meadow pipit” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Meadow_pipit&oldid=1384845900), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the meadow pipit sound like?
Is the meadow pipit endangered?
The meadow pipit is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the meadow pipit classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyMotacillidae
- genusAnthus
- SpeciesAnthus pratensis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms Alauda pratensis, Anthus limicola, Spipola pratensis, Spipola sepiaria
Other names and names in other languages (91)
- MEPIEnglish
- جشنة الغيطArabic
- جشنة الحقولArabic
- أبو تمرة الحقولArabic
- أبو فصية الغيطArabic
- Cistrilla granAragonese
- chis de los praosAsturian
- Һаҙ деүетеBashkir
- Лугавы свірстунBelarusian
- Лугавы свiрстунBelarusian
- Ливадна бъбрицаBulgarian
- Sidan-pradBreton
- titellaCatalan
- Улӑх тихашкиChuvash
- linduška lučníCzech
- corhedydd y waunWelsh
- Corhedyddion y WaunWelsh
- engpiberDanish
- WiesenpieperGerman
- ΛιβαδοκελάδαGreek
- herbeja pipioEsperanto
- bisbita pratenseSpanish
- sookiurEstonian
- Negu-txirtaBasque
- پپت صحراییPersian
- پیپت علفزارPersian
- niittykirvinenFinnish
- TítlingurFaroese
- SummartítlingurFaroese
- BéguinetteFrench
- pipit des présFrench
- Pipit farlouseFrench
- SkootfinkNorthern Frisian
- Banaltra na cuaicheIrish
- snàthagScottish Gaelic
- riabhag-mhonaidhScottish Gaelic
- riabhagan-monaidhScottish Gaelic
- riabhóg mhónaScottish Gaelic
- snàthaganScottish Gaelic
- Pica dos pradosGalician
- Tweet lheeannaghManx
- פפיון שדותHebrew
- פיפיון השדותHebrew
- פיפיון שדותHebrew
- livadna trepteljkaCroatian
- réti pityerHungarian
- Մարգագետնային ձիաթռչնակArmenian
- ÞúfutittlingurIcelandic
- ßúfutittlingurIcelandic
- PispolaItalian
- マキバタヒバリJapanese
- kussannaqKalaallisut
- МэкъупӀэбзуKabardian
- Шиаяқ жадырақKazakh
- 풀밭종다리Korean
- BonnykCornish
- WisepiipsertLuxembourgish
- pievinis kalviukasLithuanian
- pļavu čipsteLatvian
- Pļavas čipsteLatvian
- ливадска трепетилкаMacedonian
- heipiplerkeNorwegian Bokmål
- graspieperDutch
- PipettePicard
- świergotek łąkowyPolish
- świergotek tajgowyPolish
- petinha-dos-pradosPortuguese
- Fâsă de luncăRomanian
- Луговой конёкRussian
- Щеврица луговаяRussian
- лугово́й конёкRussian
- Луговый коникRusyn
- NiitocivkkánNorthern Sami
- cihcecizášNorthern Sami
- duolvacizášNorthern Sami
- niitocivkkalávvirNorthern Sami
- ľabtuška lúčnaSlovak
- Mala cipaSlovenian
- travniška cipaSlovenian
- drenja e luadhitAlbanian
- Livadska trepteljkaSerbian
- Ливадска трептељкаSerbian
- ängspiplärkaSwedish
- Çayır İncirkuşuTurkish
- cayir incirlikusuTurkish
- Çayır incir kuşuTurkish
- çayır incirli kuşuTurkish
- Щеврик лучнийUkrainian
- FistaVenetian
- 草地鷚Chinese
- 草地鹨Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the meadow pipit
Other species in the same genus Anthus.
Tree pipit
Anthus trivialis
Tawny pipit
Anthus campestris
Red-throated pipit
Anthus cervinus
Water pipit
Anthus spinoletta
Richard's pipit
Anthus richardi
European rock pipit
Anthus petrosus
CompareMeadow pipit vs Tree pipitMeadow pipit vs Tawny pipitMeadow pipit vs Red-throated pipitMeadow pipit vs Water pipit
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the meadow pipit?
The meadow pipit is a bird in the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup, in the family Motacillidae and the order Passeriformes.
How heavy is a meadow pipit?
An adult meadow pipit has a body mass of 18.4 g, with values up to 19 g reported. Its wingspan is 26 cm.
What does the meadow pipit eat?
The meadow pipit is an invertivore, placing it at the carnivore trophic level.
What habitat does the meadow pipit live in?
The meadow pipit lives in grassland and forages on the ground as a terrestrial bird.
Is the meadow pipit endangered?
No. The meadow pipit is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.
How long does a meadow pipit live?
The meadow pipit has a lifespan of 7.7 years, with values up to 8.75 years reported.
How many eggs does a meadow pipit lay?
The meadow pipit lays 4.8 eggs per clutch and has 2 clutches per year, with an incubation period of 13.5 days.
Who named the meadow pipit?
The meadow pipit, Anthus pratensis, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/meadow-pipit
“Meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/meadow-pipit.
@misc{meadow_pipit_2026,
title = {Meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/meadow-pipit},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}