# Water pipit (*Anthus spinoletta*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/water-pipit  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The water pipit (Anthus spinoletta) is a bird in the family Motacillidae, part of the songbirds and other perching birds in the order Passeriformes. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 23.9 g and a wingspan of 26 cm. The water pipit is a migratory, terrestrial invertivore of grassland habitats, with a geographic range of 3,806,000 km². It lays 4.6 eggs per clutch with 1.5 clutches per year, and it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, not a threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 20.1 g – 23.9 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 26 cm |
| Lifespan | 8.82 years |
| Diet | Invertivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 8.92 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | grassland |
| Egg incubation | 14.4 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 4.6 |
| Age at maturity | 11.9 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1.5 |
| Reproduction | Eggs |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Passeriformes
- family: Motacillidae
- genus: Anthus
- species: *Anthus spinoletta* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Alauda migratoria*, *Alauda spinoletta*, *Anthus aquaticus*, *Anthus petrosus meinertzhageni*, *Anthus petrosus subsp. spinoletta*, *Anthus spinoletta meinertzhageni*, *Pipastes spinoletta*

## Common questions

### How big is the water pipit?

The water pipit is a small bird with an adult body mass of 23.9 g and a wingspan of 26 cm.

### What does the water pipit eat?

The water pipit is an invertivore, and its trophic level is carnivore.

### What habitat does the water pipit live in?

The water pipit lives in grassland and forages on the ground as a terrestrial bird. It is migratory.

### Is the water pipit endangered?

No. The water pipit is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does the water pipit live?

The water pipit has a lifespan of 8.8 years, with a highest reported value of 8.9 years.

### How many eggs does the water pipit lay?

The water pipit lays 4.6 eggs per clutch, with 1.5 clutches per year and an incubation period of 14.4 days.

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), 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).

Cite as: Water pipit (Anthus spinoletta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/water-pipit