The South Georgia pipit (''Anthus antarcticus'') is a sparrow-sized bird only found on the

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

archipelago off the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

. It is the only

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, South Georgia's only

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

, and one of the few non-

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s of the region. It builds nests from dried grass, usually within

tussac grass ''Poa flabellata'', commonly known as tussac grass or just tussac, is a tussock grass native to southern South America, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and other islands in the South Atlantic. There are also two isolated records from the herb ...

, and lays four eggs a year. It feeds on small insects and spiders, and beach debris. It has been threatened by the human introduction of rats, and also by environmental damage caused by humans. It has been chosen as the poster bird of the South Georgia Heritage Trust's Habitat Restoration (Rat Eradication) project, which started eradicating rats on South Georgia in 2011. The project's baiting phase ended in early 2015, and success was confirmed in 2018. Visitors can see the bird on

Prion Island __NOTOC__ Prion Island is an island north-northeast of Luck Point, lying in the Bay of Isles, South Georgia. It was charted in 1912-13 by Robert Cushman Murphy, American naturalist aboard the brig ''Daisy'', and so named because he observed pri ...

, and on beach's on South Georgia since the eradication project took hold.

Description

The South Georgia pipit is a small and stocky pipit, long and weighing . The species has long legs and a long hindclaw and a short tail.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q493653

South Georgia pipit The South Georgia pipit (''Anthus antarcticus'') is a sparrow-sized bird only found on the South Georgia archipelago off the Antarctic Peninsula. It is the only songbird in Antarctica, South Georgia's only passerine, and one of the few non-seab ...

Birds of islands of the Atlantic Ocean Birds of subantarctic islands Fauna of South Georgia