Citrine Wagtail
Motacilla citreola
Widespread and fairly common over much of Asia; rare to western Europe. Breeding males spectacular and unmistakable: bright yellow head and body contrasts with black collar and gray (most of range) or black (central and southern Asia) back. Females and non breeding males less conspicuous, dull yellow with dark cheek patch isolated in yellow face and a gray crown and back. Juveniles have same cheek pattern but are dingy grayish overall without yellow tones (or just faint yellow face). White wingbars conspicuous in all plumages; also note pale lores. More tied to water than Eastern Yellow, Western Yellow, or White Wagtail; usually seen at marshes and lake edges. Contact call "tsriip," harsher than Eastern and Western Yellow Wagtail.
Identification
It is a slender, 15.5–17 cm long bird, with the long, constantly wagging tail characteristic of the genus Motacilla. The adult male in breeding plumage is basically grey or black above, with white on the remiges, and bright yellow below and on the entire head except for the black nape. In winter plumage, its yellow underparts may be diluted by white, and the head is brownish with a yellowish supercilium. Females look generally like washed-out versions of males in winter plumage.
Taxonomy
Its systematics, phylogeny and taxonomy are subject of considerable debate in the early 21st century. This is because this bird forms a cryptic species complex with the eastern (M. tschutschensis ) and western yellow wagtail (M. flava). Which of the many taxa in this group should properly refer to which population is unlikely to be resolved in the immediate future.<p>Motacilla is the Latin name for the pied wagtail; although actually a diminutive of motare, " to move about", from medieval times it led to the misunderstanding of cilla as "tail". The specific citreola is Latin for "lemon yellow".
- Scientific name
- Motacilla citreola
- Authority
- Pallas, 1776
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Motacilla
Range and habitat
This species breeds in the central Palearctic in wet meadows and tundra. It migrates in winter to South Asia, often to highland areas. Its range is expanding westwards, and it is a rare but increasing vagrant to western Europe. Vagrants seem to extend the migration rather than straying en route; in Bhutan, for example, though along one of the species' migration flyways, the citrine wagtail has been recorded as an extremely rare passer-by rather than staying even for a few days or weeks.
- Breeding range
- PAL : widespread
- Non-breeding range
- OR
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
It is an insectivorous bird of open country near water, such as wet meadows and bogs, and nests on the ground, laying 4–5 speckled eggs.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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