@KevinFRK

heh, merlin can't always be wrong but "think horses not zebras" can lead birders to miss a lot of rarities and strays

i think my next step absent the input of a more experienced local birder to review the photo would be to pull up the local ebird records for the patch where you saw it

if everybody else, including the people who regularly visit the patch are reporting Meadow Pipit, & especially if Tree Pipit has never been seen on that patch, you can be pretty confident

good luck! the field markings on these birds are REALLY tough for me

@KevinFRK

oh boy, could be, but that's a tough call

how did you eliminate Tree Pipit? (i'm asking not telling, the pipits are a tough category for me when there are multiple possibilities in range so i could maybe learn something...)