Last christmas, I saw a number of
Richard's Pipits at Dadri.
Yesterday, on a trip with Ramit and Ammu, I was pleased to make their
acquaintance again. We had multiple good views of at least one bird out
in the open, and saw and heard a few others in flight.
I noticed this time that, at a distance, the streaking on the back can
be more obvious when the bird is running with its head down and body
held parallel to the ground than when it stands upright, something that
can be seen briefly in this video:
Perhaps when the bird is in its characteristic upright posture, the back
feathers are pushed together, and the streaks are shifted out of
alignment?
Apart from the pipits, the highlight of the morning was watching three
young Peregrine Falcons hunting waders and waterfowl over the lake.
(Meanwhile, a number of Blyth's Pipits have been seen in Karnataka this
year. I wonder if there are any at Sultanpur yet?)