Richard's Pipit

Richard's Pipit is a large East Asian pipit which, in principle, has nothing to do with the West - yet evidence shows that some of the wintering birds from the nominate subspecies richardi have pushed further west, as far as France.
Richard's Pipit is larger than the Meadow Pipit and more robust, with a haughty look brought about by its head carriage, and its bill held upwards. Five subspecies are described that differ very little amongst themselves. Here I will describe the nominate subspecies richardi which is relevant to us.
There is no sexual dimorphism. The upperparts of the adult are brown-beige and streaked dark brown. The creamy-white tips of the medium coverts, which are themselves very dark, form a pale wing bar. The greater coverts, tertiaries and central rectrices are broadly edged with rufous-ochre. The two outer pairs of rectrices are white on their outer web, which is especially evident in flight.
The underparts are creamy-rufous, with the flanks being the reddest. The upper part of the chest has clear blackish-brown streaks against a rufous background, connecting to two patches of the same colour at the base of the neck.
The head, held high with its bill raised, is remarkable for its wide, whitish-creamy rufous eyebrow which borders the dark crown. The eye appears to have glasses of clear colour, contributed by the eyebrow, the white eyering, the lore and the pale subocular space. The auricular coverts are brown-ochre beneath a postocular line of brown. A brown moustache emphasises these coverts. Just below, a wide creamy sub moustachial streak corresponds to the eyebrow. It is emphasised by a thin blackish-brown malar line that runs from the bill to the dark patch at the base of the neck. The throat is whitish-creamy rufous.The lower mandible is pink, sometimes rather yellow. The toes and fingers are pink. The nail of the hind finger is very long (approx. 2 cm), longer than the finger itself. The juvenile can be recognized by its more contrasting plumage, with a scaly appearance on the upper parts, lost by autumn.
Richard's Pipit can easily be confused with Godlewski's Pipit to the east of the continent, but not in Europe where the latter does not come. It is necessary to look at the beak (shorter and more pointed in Richard's Pipit), the rear nail (shorter than the finger and more curved, < 1.5 cm) and the median covers (the brown-black of the center of the feathers ends in round).