photo/EH Van Blaricom Bird on a wire — this Water Pipit stumped Van Blaricom.

As a connoisseur of local songbirds, I almost never see a species of bird that I can’t identify.

However, a few years ago, I was out on the Crow Creek Road looking to see if the ground squirrels were out yet. It was March and quite chilly, but when I looked on a barbed wire fence there was a grayish/brown bird with stripes on its breast that was all fluffed out like most birds do to keep warm.

Actually, there are numerous species of field sparrows that have similar plumage, but I couldn’t get a positive identification on its name. I photographed this mystery bird and took its picture to Pat Matthews at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and even he couldn’t name it off the top of his head.

About 10 days later he gave me a call and said this bird was a Water Pipit, sometimes called an American Pipit. I can’t remember ever having seen one before. This lone bird was probably migrating to its breeding grounds in northern Alaska.

When I looked in my bird book, there he was, but he looked somewhat more slender — of course, the cold weather fluffed him out.

According to my Audubon Encyclopedia, these pipits travel in loose flocks and feed in open pastures while rarely ever lighting in trees. They also have a habit of wagging their tails. They breed mostly in the far north, but sometimes winter as far south as Guatemala.

Now that I learned a few things about this mystery bird, I will add it to my repertoire of song birds to watch for. And it will help keep me humble in realizing that there are, no doubt, other species of birds I can’t identify.