FIRST DESCRIPTION OF THE NEST AND EGGS OF THE PERUVIAN PIPIT (ANTHUS PERUVIANUS, AVES: MOTACILLIDAE)

Abstract

We described the nest of the recently recognized Peruvian Pipit (Anthus peruvianus) in Islay Province, department of Arequipa, southern Peru, and compared it to the known nests of other Neotropical pipits. We found the nest, which was concealed below dense salt grass (Distichilis spicata), on 20 May 2017 in an estuarine grassland adjacent to the Tambo river, approximately 200 m from the Pacific coast. The nest consisted of a shallow, loosely domed cup of dried salt grass stems, and contained three greenish-white eggs with rusty brown and bluish-gray speckles, with a denser speckling on the larger side of the egg. Nests of sister species of the Peruvian Pipit are generally cup- shaped and similar in size, and the clutch size of the Peruvian Pipit’s nest falls within the range found in other Neotropical pipits.