Mekong Wagtail
Motacilla samveasnae
Large black-and-white wagtail with an intricately and uniquely striped head pattern. Wings and outer tail feathers flash brightly in flight. Adult male is black-backed, while the female and immature have a duller gray-brown back. Simple song is a compilation of a few high phrases of whistles and twitters. Call is harsh and buzzy. Found only around flowing lowland rivers with braided rocky sections, specifically a unique composite of gravel and sand bars with low vegetation and boulders.
Identification
The Mekong wagtail most closely resembles African pied wagtail M. aguimp, although two species ranges are far apart. It differs from M. agiump in several minor respects, particularly wing pattern, and its vocalisations are very distinctive. It is a very distinctive species and is the only black-and-white wagtail in South-East Asia which exhibits the plumage character combination of black forehead, lores and ear coverts, obvious white supercilia, with white a throat and neck patch.
Taxonomy
The species was overlooked until 2001 when it was described. It is named in honour of the late Cambodian ornithologist Sam Veasna. It is most similar in appearance to the African pied wagtail but genetic evidence suggests that the two are not more closely related to each other compared to other black and white wagtails such as the white wagtail M. alba complex or the white-browed wagtail M. maderaspatensis.
- Scientific name
- Motacilla samveasnae
- Authority
- Duckworth, Alström, Davidson, PJ, Evans, Poole, Setha & Timmins, 2001
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Motacilla
Range and habitat
The Mekong River breeding in Cambodia and Laos, but apparently it is a non breeding visitor to Thailand. It also occurs in Vietnam. The Mekong wagtail is found in wide lowland river channels. Territorial birds are associated with fast-flowing braided sections of river which flow through a distinctive landscape of rocks, bushes adapted to prolonged seasonal submersion, mainly Homonoia riparia, with sandbars and gravel shoals. As river levels rise during the May/June–October/November rainy season these features become flooded. The species concentrates along earthen banks and associated overhanging vegetation, and patches of exposed sand and silt, where they occur in pairs, some of which are highly territorial, and small flocks of less than a dozen birds.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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