I’m rather fond of pipits, peppy passerines with a busy bee disposition… a gait part measured and part gawky… a gaze that is part unamused and part curious… not too averse to human presence, they lend themselves to the photographer relatively easily by spending a majority of their time along the terra firma rather than milling about in bushes or trees… bringing the grim reaper to invertebrates… ‘tis a humble avian in terms of plumage too, making do with drab shades of brown, buff and white…
The rosy pipit is one of the few pipits that bucks that trend, choosing some vibrancy – even if quite subtle – beyond that dull palette of colours… a native of montane regions… ascending and descending with the seasons, it brings a dash of restiveness to the otherwise tranquil landscapes that it inhabits… unlike some other pipits, it seems less upright in its posture and more rounded in shape, somewhat akin to a lark…
My rendezvous with these pipits have mostly been in the higher climes, where one is supposed to rest and make peace with the altitude… but with all the avifaunal frenzy around, one ends up succumbing to temptation… there’s a price to pay of course – mild headaches or lassitude, but nothing one can’t contend with…
One of these was among the boulder-strewn meadows around Ruinsara Tal, the air abuzz with the activity of birds running through the chores of the mating season… trials and tribulations of existences determined by rotations and revolutions… with rubythroats, wagtails, finches, pipits and warblers all chirping for attention, this was a problem of plenty… but then this rosy pipit landed atop a rock and started parading up and down hurriedly, its beak chock-full of critters… one assumed foraging for the offspring, trying to maximize the collection before it made a beeline for the nest after scanning for potential predators… a faint pink on the breast was all I could observe in terms of identification… ‘tis one of those pipits that show a stark contrast in seasonal plumage… in the non-breeding season, the pink breast and belly are replaced with black streaks…
The other was near the snout of Parvati Glacier as we wound our way up the Khiron Ganga valley enroute Panpatia icefield… we had a very short hike for the day that finished before noon, and with the whole day to lounge about, I duly headed to the boulder fields flanking the campsite… unlike the previous encounter, there wasn’t much avifauna around, so the rosy pipit got all the attention… there was the discomfort of the harsh afternoon sun… both in terms of the exhaustion it brought as well as finding good light for frames… with fewer predators around though, the bird seemed braver, looking over the panorama with an uncharacteristic aplomb, and I spent a couple of hours tiptoeing around boulders to gain proximity with some success…
Pipits are like the bourgeoise, going about sustenance without any pomp and show, grounded in its work ethic, content in simple sustenance, yet here and there, one finds them throwing caution to the wind… a reminder that there’s always something marvellous lilting beneath the mundane…
Musing on encounters with Rosy pipits (Anthus roseatus) in high altitude landscapes of Uttarakhand…
