Warble UK
Tree Pipit
Photo: Imran Shah from Islamabad, Pakistan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Birds / Pipits

Tree Pipit

Anthus trivialis
Tricky Summer visitor WoodlandHeath
Test yourself

Recording: Patrik Åberg / xeno-canto

Sounds like

Sings from a treetop and in a song flight that ends with a slow, descending 'seea-seea-seea' as it parachutes back down.

Remember it

Like a meadow pipit with a richer, canary-like finish, launched from a tree.

When and where

Listening for the tree pipit

Heard
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Apr to Jul
Time of day
Day
Where
Woodland, Heath
In Britain
Summer visitor
Family
Pipits

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Tree Pipit

Tree Pipit

Anthus trivialis
JFMAMJJASOND

Like a meadow pipit with a richer, canary-like finish, launched from a tree.

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Anthus pratensis
JFMAMJJASOND

Rises nervously, sings faster and faster, then floats down like a shuttlecock.

Could you pick out a tree pipit?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in woodland

See all
Blackbird

Blackbird

Turdus merula
JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Cyanistes caeruleus
JFMAMJJASOND

Two or three thin, high notes followed by a fast, shimmering trill: 'tsee-tsee-tsuhuhuhu'.

Chaffinch

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs
JFMAMJJASOND

A cheerful, accelerating run of notes that tumbles down and ends in a flourish, repeated over and over.

Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Periparus ater
JFMAMJJASOND

A fast, high, two-note phrase repeated several times: 'pitchoo-pitchoo-pitchoo'.