Buffy Pipit (Anthus vaalensis) [XC519446]
by Tony Archer from Matatiele reserve mid elevation, Matatiele Local Municipality, Alfred Nzo, Eastern Cape, South Africa (call)
Buffy Pipit (Anthus vaalensis) [XC648892]
by Frank Lambert from City of Matlosana (near Klerksdorp), Southern DC, North West, South Africa (call)
Subspecies
Was in the past confused with Plain-backed Pipit (Anthus leucophrys). North-eastern subspecies saphiroi and goodsoni still included in Plain-backed Pipit (Anthus leucophrys) by some authors. Subspecies chobiensis possibly better merged with neumanni, and marungensis possibly indistinguishable from either of those two.
Proposed subspecies daviesi (Eastern Cape, South Africa) included in nominate, and muhingae (south-eastern DRCongo) in neumanni. Birds of south-eastern Botswana and north-eastern South Africa sometimes separated as subspecies clanceyi. Geographical limits of subspecies difficult to establish and boundaries between listed ranges tentative.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
saphiroi Shelley, 1900 - South-eastern Ethiopia and north-western Somalia.
goodsoni Meinertzhagen, 1920 - Central and south-western Kenya and extreme northern Tanzania.
neumanni Meinertzhagen, R, 1920 - Angolan plateau and south-central and southern DRCongo; moves south to Namibia and Botswana in the rains.
chobiensis (Roberts, 1932) - South-eastern DRCongo and western Tanzania south to south-eastern Angola, extreme north-eastern Namibia, northern Botswana, Zimbabwe and adjacent Mozambique.
marungensis Chapin, 1937 - Northern Zambia east to southern Tanzania.
namibicus Clancey, 1990 - North-eastern and central Namibia.
exasperatus Winterbottom, 1963 - North-eastern Botswana; migrates to western Zimbabwe.
vaalensis Shelley, 1900 - Southern Botswana east to southern Mozambique, north-eastern South Africa and western Lesotho.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet