diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 4f6b2d016..e89a40954 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -72,7 +72,9 @@
 
 *
 
-*
+* Collection only displays progress ("collecting X items") when in a terminal.
+  This avoids cluttering the output when using ``--color=yes`` to obtain
+  colors in CI integrations systems (`#1397`_).
 
 *
 
@@ -106,6 +108,7 @@
 .. _#1226: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/pull/1226
 .. _#1290: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/pull/1290
 .. _#1355: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/pull/1355
+.. _#1397: https://github.com/pytest-dev/pytest/issues/1397
 .. _@biern: https://github.com/biern
 .. _@MichaelAquilina: https://github.com/MichaelAquilina
 .. _@bukzor: https://github.com/bukzor
diff --git a/_pytest/terminal.py b/_pytest/terminal.py
index e17b8dda2..825f553ef 100644
--- a/_pytest/terminal.py
+++ b/_pytest/terminal.py
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ class TerminalReporter:
         self.currentfspath = None
         self.reportchars = getreportopt(config)
         self.hasmarkup = self._tw.hasmarkup
+        self.isatty = file.isatty()
 
     def hasopt(self, char):
         char = {'xfailed': 'x', 'skipped': 's'}.get(char, char)
@@ -234,7 +235,7 @@ class TerminalReporter:
                 self.currentfspath = -2
 
     def pytest_collection(self):
-        if not self.hasmarkup and self.config.option.verbose >= 1:
+        if not self.isatty and self.config.option.verbose >= 1:
             self.write("collecting ... ", bold=True)
 
     def pytest_collectreport(self, report):
@@ -244,7 +245,7 @@ class TerminalReporter:
             self.stats.setdefault("skipped", []).append(report)
         items = [x for x in report.result if isinstance(x, pytest.Item)]
         self._numcollected += len(items)
-        if self.hasmarkup:
+        if self.isatty:
             #self.write_fspath_result(report.nodeid, 'E')
             self.report_collect()
 
@@ -263,7 +264,7 @@ class TerminalReporter:
             line += " / %d errors" % errors
         if skipped:
             line += " / %d skipped" % skipped
-        if self.hasmarkup:
+        if self.isatty:
             if final:
                 line += " \n"
             self.rewrite(line, bold=True)
diff --git a/testing/test_terminal.py b/testing/test_terminal.py
index df9cdc040..b43d6b379 100644
--- a/testing/test_terminal.py
+++ b/testing/test_terminal.py
@@ -561,12 +561,37 @@ def test_color_yes(testdir):
     assert 'test session starts' in result.stdout.str()
     assert '\x1b[1m' in result.stdout.str()
 
+
 def test_color_no(testdir):
     testdir.makepyfile("def test_this(): assert 1")
     result = testdir.runpytest('--color=no')
     assert 'test session starts' in result.stdout.str()
     assert '\x1b[1m' not in result.stdout.str()
 
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('verbose', [True, False])
+def test_color_yes_collection_on_non_atty(testdir, verbose):
+    """skip collect progress report when working on non-terminals.
+    #1397
+    """
+    testdir.makepyfile("""
+        import pytest
+        @pytest.mark.parametrize('i', range(10))
+        def test_this(i):
+            assert 1
+    """)
+    args = ['--color=yes']
+    if verbose:
+        args.append('-vv')
+    result = testdir.runpytest(*args)
+    assert 'test session starts' in result.stdout.str()
+    assert '\x1b[1m' in result.stdout.str()
+    assert 'collecting 10 items' not in result.stdout.str()
+    if verbose:
+        assert 'collecting ...' in result.stdout.str()
+    assert 'collected 10 items' in result.stdout.str()
+
+
 def test_getreportopt():
     class config:
         class option: