On Mon, 31 Jul 1995, Charles E. Vaughan wrote:

> Finches. When I finally got a better view in good light I saw a small
> bird with tail markings like a Junco, a buff-colored breast and an
> eyeline. I am relatively sure that my birds were Water Pipits. If so
> this was a life list bird for me; I think I will count it. I have never
> seen any discussion of Water Pipits even though they are supposed to be
> common. Any comments or stories from the Tweeters?

American Pipits are fairly common breeders in all alpine habitats in
Washington (except of course glaciers and barren rock fields), and
migrate throughout the lowlands. There are Breeding Bird Atlas records
from the northeastern Olympics, and all along the Cascades on both sides,
and including the large volcanoes (Baker, Glacier, Rainier, Adams). I
don't know if they still exist on St. Helens. No BBA records exist from
Mt. Salmo, but I would also imagine they nest there. I think the reason
most birders don't see them in the breeding season is that it usually
involves a long and strenuous hike (of course there are exceptions to this).

I've added a map of pipit breeding locations to our bird web-page, you
may see it (and others) by going to the following URL and clicking the
species:

http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/wagapbirds.html

And Mike Patrick wrote:
> The part I'm really not proud of is that our housing development was clearly
> built on the pipits' wintering grounds :-{ Another instance of how our life-
> styles impact birds.... I'll make a point to look for them this winter when
> we're back for the holidays, but I fear we pushed them out (the Lesser
> Goldfinches, Say's Phoebes, and Black Phoebe's have done well though).

Your housing development may not have actually pushed out the pipits, but
instead provided them with a good feeding spot. On Galveston Island,
one of the best spots for pipits is at the state park, on the cultivated
lawns, which they *prefer* to the other available habitats. Makes sense,
too, as the lawns will probably have higher productivity than surrounding
vegetation (dunes!), and therefore probably greater food supply.

Now here's a fine question: if you could get a lawn to grow at 7000' on
a mountainside, would pipits prefer that to their rocky holes?

-------------
Michael R. Smith
Univ. of Washington, Seattle
whimbrel at u.washington.edu
http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html