Anthus campestris
Anthus campestris
It is found in temperate and warm areas of the western and central Palearctic. In Europe, it is distributed only in the southern part and in some areas or fragments of the central continent, being absent in the north (Keller et al, BirdLife International, 2024). In Spain, although not strictly eurosiberian, the tawny pipit occurs in the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula, sparsely in Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country. In the southern half of the peninsula, it appears sporadically, especially in the Mediterranean area. It is present in the Balearic Islands but absent in the Canary Islands and in Ceuta and Melilla (García and Calero-Riestra in SEO/BirdLife, 2022).
Within the Community of Madrid, it is mainly distributed in the extreme north, where it frequents high-mountain grasslands and dwarf broom areas (Díaz et al., 1994).
Within the national park, it is a common species during the breeding season across almost all summits and high-altitude areas. It occupies ridges, passes, and peaks both in Cuerda Larga and from the Peñalara massif to nearly the northernmost edge, always above the forest limit.
It is a species with a wide altitudinal range (Carrascal and Palomino, 2008), mainly occupying the supramediterranean and oromediterranean bioclimatic zones. During the breeding season, it prefers open, flat, dry, and semi-arid areas with sparse low vegetation where it builds its nests (Calero-Riestra, 2015; Calero-Riestra and García, 2019).
Within the national park, its highest densities have been recorded in open dwarf broom and grassland areas, also including rocky patches or zones.
At a global scale, it is classified as Least Concern (LC; 2018). In Europe, it would also be categorized as Least Concern (LC; 2021). In Spain, it is considered Least Concern in the 2021 Red List.
The Threatened Species Catalogue of the Community of Madrid (1992) does not list this species under any threat category.
BirdLife International 2024. IUCN Red List for birds. https://datazone.birdlife.org.
Calero-Riestra, M. 2015. Ecología de la reproducción del bisbita campestre (Anthus campestris) en los páramos ibericos. Tesis Doctoral. Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. Madrid.
Calero-Riestra, M. y García, J. T. 2019. Bisbita campestre Anthus campestris. En Salvador, A. y Bautista, L. M. (eds.): Enciclopedia Virtual de los Vertebrados Españoles. Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales. Madrid.
Carrascal, L. M. y Palomino, D. 2008. Las aves comunes reproductoras en España. Población en 2004-2006. SEO/Birdlife. Madrid.
Díaz, M., Martí, R., Gómez-Manzaneque, Á. y Sánchez, A. 1994. Atlas de las aves nidificantes en Madrid. Agencia de Medio Ambiente y SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.
Keller, V., Herrando, S., Voříšek, P., Franch, M., Kipson, M., Milanesi, P., Martí, D., Antón, M., Klvaňová, A., Kalyakin, M. V. Bauer, H. Gr y Foppen, R. P. B. 2020. European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Birds Census Council y Lynx Edicions. Barcelona.
SEO/BirdLife (Molina, B., Nebreda, A., Muñoz, A. R., Seoane, J., Real, R., Bustamante, J. y Del Moral, J. C., eds.). 2022. III Atlas de las aves en época de reproducción en España. SEO/BirdLife. Madrid.