African Pied Wagtail
Motacilla aguimp
The only black-and-white wagtail in Africa shows a bold white eyebrow and wing panels and a broad black throat patch. The juvenile is brownish. Pairs and family groups frequent a broad range of habitats, including human-altered environments, but in drier areas they are associated with waterside habitats. The species runs on the ground foraging for insects, characteristically wagging its tail up and down in an exaggerated motion. The juvenile African Pied Wagtail may resemble the Cape Wagtail, but has extensive white panels in the wings.
Identification
A striking black and white wagtail with black upperparts contrasting with white underparts, it has a white supercilium and a white patch in the folded wing. Juvenile birds are greyer, while birds of the nominate subspecies show grey flanks. They are 20 cm (7.9 in) long.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Motacilla aguimp
- Authority
- Temminck, 1820
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Motacilla
Range and habitat
The African pied wagtail is found in sub-Saharan Africa from the Eastern Cape north to extreme southern Egypt and from Guinea to western Eritrea and Somalia. It is a vagrant to Burkina Faso, Gambia, Mauritania, and the Western Cape. The African pied wagtail inhabits subtropical or tropical, seasonally wet or flooded, lowland grassland, rivers, and sometimes freshwater marshes. In some areas, it is commensal with humans in towns and villages.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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