Eastern Yellow Wagtail
Motacilla tschutschensis
Attractive ground-dwelling bird. Slender and long-tailed, bright yellow below with paler throat and grayish-olive back; extremely variable. Tail is black with white outer feathers; often pumps tail up and down while walking on the ground. Young birds lack yellow color, but have distinctive head pattern. Often seen near water. Listen for high-pitched, piercing call note. Common breeder on Arctic tundra from Alaska to Russia; found in grassy and waterside habitats in Southeast Asian wintering grounds and in migration.
Identification
It is a slender 15–16 cm long bird, with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. The breeding adult male is basically olive above and yellow below. In other plumages, the yellow may be diluted by white. The heads of breeding males come in a variety of colours and patterns depending on subspecies.<p>The call is a characteristic high-pitched jeet.
Taxonomy
The eastern yellow wagtail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla tschutschensis. The specific epithet tschutschensis is from the locality, the Chukchi Peninsula is eastern Russia. Gmelin based his account on the "Tchutschi wagtail" that had been described by John Latham in 1783 and by Thomas Pennant in 1785. In his description Pennant wrote "Taken off the Tchutschi coat, with the Streights of Bering, Lat. 66, north." This is almost certainly the bird captured in 1778 during James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The naturalist William Wade Ellis, who accompanied Cook, produced a painting of the specimen and in the caption wrote "caught on board, lat. 66". Ellis's painting is now in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.<p>Four subspecies are recognised:<p>Three species of yellow wagtails are recognised in the Palearctic: the eastern yellow wagtail, the western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) and the citrine wagtail (Motacilla citreola). Phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA sequences produces a topology that conflicts with that obtained from when nuclear sequences are used. The topology from nuclear data more closely corresponds to the traditional phenotypic taxonomy. The nuclear genetic divergence between the western and eastern yellow wagtails is small and some ornithologists choose to not split the species so that the eastern races become subspecies of M. flava.
- Scientific name
- Motacilla tschutschensis
- Authority
- Gmelin, JF, 1789
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Motacilla
Range and habitat
This species breeds in the East Palearctic and has a foothold in North America in Alaska. Populations migrate to south Asia and Australia. Vagrant individuals occur around the winter quarters at migration time. For example, on Palau in Micronesia migrant flocks of this species – apparently of the Bering Sea yellow wagtail, and including many adult males – are regularly seen, while further north on the Marianas, only the occasional stray individual – usually females or immatures as it seems – is encountered.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
This insectivorous bird inhabits open country near water, such as wet meadows. It nests in tussocks, laying 4–8 speckled eggs.<p>The Acanthocephalan parasite Apororhynchus paulonucleatus was discovered in the colon and cloaca of the eastern yellow wagtail.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Rubigula melanictera
Medium-sized greenish bird with a bright yellow underside and black head. Occurs in a variety of habitats, wherever there are trees, including forest, open woodlands, and gardens, in the lowlands and foothills. Usually encountered in pairs or small groups. Yellow throat and lack of black in the wing separates this species from Black-hooded Oriole. Unmarked, black head identifies Black-capped Bulbul from Yellow-eared and Yellow-browed Bulbuls. Song is series of warbling whistles, rising at the end, “wet-wet-wet-wer-wer-wer-weer.” Also gives churring calls.
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Phoenicurus moussieri
Small redstart. Male is unmistakable with an orange throat and underparts, a bold white head stripe from the forehead down to the neck sides, and a big white wing patch. Female is plain brown above and rich rusty below, with a thin white eyering. Breeds on wooded mountain slopes, plantations, gardens, and scrub. Descends to lower elevation habitats such as deserts and plains in the winter. Song is a jumble of pleasant, high-pitched whistles and buzzes. Call is a high-pitched clear whistle combined with a buzzing note, "Pi, pi, pi, zzzzzzzzz…"
Hodgson's Frogmouth
Batrachostomus hodgsoni
Cryptic, uncommon nightbird of evergreen and mixed foothill and montane forests (900-2000 meters). Both sexes have dappled lichen-like plumage, the male grayish, female rusty brown. Silent birds are best distinguished from other small frogmouths by range, habitat, elevation, and bird’s comparatively small size. Song a long, haunting whistle, given repeatedly in series.
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