"Grayish brown and faintly streaked above, this six-inch pipit has buffy underparts streaked with brown ... the slim profile, and the slender, warblerlike beak serve to distinguish the pipit from several sparrows of similar size and color."

"The back grayish with faint or no streaking ... breast and flanks buffy, heavily streaked to unstreaked ..." (The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, p.585)
The back contrasts with the "Strongly streaked black and whitish on back" (The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, p.584) of Sprague's Pipit.

The tail feathers.

Photo taken with a Nikon D90 using a Nikon 400mm, f/5.6.

December 30, 2011.