New Zealand native pipit (Australasian pipit)

They are slender, brownish, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. Pipits are monogamous and territorial. Pipits are ground nesters, laying up to six speckled eggs.

The Australasian Pipits of New Zealand may represent a separate species from those found elsewhere.

The pipits are active birds that usually spend most of their time on the ground.

this little one was in the carpark up on Mt Cheeseman ski field.