It was formerly included in the long-billed pipit (Anthus similis) but is now frequently treated as a separate species.

It is a bird of miombo woodland in south-central Africa, unlike the long-billed pipit which inhabits open grassland.

The bird has a dark eyestripe, white supercilium and pale outer tail-feathers.

The long-billed pipit is very similar but has a slightly longer bill and tail, a smaller pale area in the outer tail-feathers and a slightly lower voice.

The range of the wood pipit extends from south-east Gabon eastwards to southern and western Tanzania and southwards as far as north-east Namibia, northern Botswana, Zimbabwe and north-west Mozambique.