Buff-bellied Pipit - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

It has two distinctive subspecies, but morphological and DNA sequence differences between them are rather pronounced and they might be considered distinct species pending further research:

• A. r. rubescens, American Pipit – breeds in northern North America, extending further south in mountainous areas
• A. r. japonicus, Japanese Pipit or Siberian Pipit – breeds in most of eastern temperate Asia (including Japan)

This species is closely related to Eurasian Rock Pipit (A. petrosus) and Water Pipit (A. spinoletta), all three forms having previously been considered conspecific. They can differentiated by their vocalizations and some visual cues, but Rock and Buff-bellied Pipit are not found sympatrically except as vagrant individuals, and the ranges of Buff-bellied and Water Pipits overlap only in a small area in Central Asia.