Еуропа тасқұрлығы (Europa tasqurlyǵy)

Small passerine bird that breeds in western Europe

The European rock pipit (Anthus petrosus), or simply rock pipit, is a species of small passerine bird that breeds in western Europe on rocky coasts. It has streaked greyish brown upperparts and buff underparts, and is similar in appearance to other European pipits. There are three subspecies, of which only the Fennoscandian one is migratory, wintering in shoreline habitats further south in Europe. The European rock pipit is territorial at least in the breeding season, and year round where it is resident. Males will sometimes enter an adjacent territory to assist the resident in repelling an intruder, behaviour only otherwise known from the African fiddler crab. European rock pipits construct a cup nest under coastal vegetation or in cliff crevices and lay four to six speckled pale grey eggs which hatch in about two weeks with a further 16 days to fledging. Although insects are occasionally caught in flight, the pipits feed mainly on small invertebrates picked off the rocks or from shallow water. The European rock pipit may be hunted by birds of prey, infested by parasites such as fleas, or act as an involuntary host to the common cuckoo, but overall its population is large and stable, and it is therefore evaluated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The European rock pipit's feeding habitat is rocky coasts, rather than the damp grassland favoured by the water pipit. As with other members of its genus, it is a host of the common cuckoo, a brood parasite. Eggs laid by cuckoos that specialise in using pipits as their hosts are similar in appearance to those of the pipit. The European rock pipit is also a host to the flea Ceratophyllus borealis, and several other flea species in the genera Ceratophyllus and Dasypsyllus. The Eurasian rock pipit can benefit from parasitism of the common periwinkle Littorina littoria by the castrating trematode Parorchis acanthus. Beaches can become attractive where the decline of the periwinkle results in more ungrazed algae, with corresponding increases in invertebrates and a greater diversity of smaller Littorina snails as food for the pipits.

Estimates of the breeding population of the European rock pipit vary, but may be as high as 408,000 pairs, of which around 300,000 pairs are in Norway. Despite slight declines in the British population and some range expansion in Finland, the population is considered overall to be large and stable, and for this reason it is evaluated as a species of least concern by the IUCN. Breeding densities vary from 0.9–6 pairs/km (1.4–9.7 pairs/mi) of coast depending on the quality of the habitat. There are few threats, although oil spills can temporarily reduce the invertebrate population of affected rocky coasts.