Gray Wagtail
Motacilla cinerea
Handsome long-tailed bird. Breeding male has a black throat, mostly yellow underparts. Breeding female often has some dark on the throat, paler yellow underparts. All plumages have gray head and back, with whitish eyebrow, bright yellow belly and vent. Often near flowing water with nearby rocks or surrogate rocky habitat, from mountain streams to weirs in suburban parklands. Walks quietly along shorelines or in nearby open areas, pumping its very long, white-sided tail up and down. Song is a repetitive series of high-pitched notes; calls include short, high “pseet” and buzzier flight calls.
Identification
This slim wagtail has a narrow white supercilium and a broken eye ring. The upperparts are grey and the yellow vent contrasting with whitish underparts makes it distinctive. The breeding male has a black throat that is edged by whitish moustachial stripes. They forage singly or in pairs on meadows or on shallow water marshes. They also use rocks in water and will often perch on trees. They have a clear sharp call note and the song consists of trills.
Taxonomy
The binomial name of the grey wagtail Motacilla cinerea was introduced by Marmaduke Tunstall in his 1771 publication Ornithologia Britannica. 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 cinerea is Latin for "ash-grey" from cinis, "ashes".<p>The relationships of this species are not well resolved; it belongs to the non-African clade of wagtails, these are confusing in their external morphology, and mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data are not able to robustly resolve their relationships. While the present species is probably most closely related to citrine wagtails and some blue-headed wagtails, the exact nature of this relationship is unclear.<p>Three subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Motacilla cinerea
- Authority
- Tunstall, 1771
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Motacilla
Range and habitat
The bird is widely distributed across the Palearctic region with several well marked populations. The nominate form (includes caspica of Iran, Turkey and the Caucasus) is from western Europe including the British Isles, Scandinavia and Mediterranean region. Race melanope, which is not well separated from the nominate subspecies, is described as the population breeding in eastern Europe and central Asia mainly along the mountain chains of the Urals, Tien Shan and along the Himalayas. They winter in Africa and Asia. Race robusta breeds along the northeastern parts of Asia in Siberia extending to Korea and Japan. These winter in Southeast Asia. Island forms include patriciae of the Azores, schmitzi of Madeira and canariensis of the Canary Islands.<p>They sometimes occur on the islands to the West of Alaska but have been known to occur further south in California as a vagrant.
- Breeding range
- PAL, OR : widespread Europe and Macaronesia s to nw Africa and e to e Russia through Mongolia, ne China, Korean Pen., and Kyushu (s Japan); also e Kazakhstan to Afghanistan and w, c Himalayas
- Non-breeding range
- AF, OR : n, e Africa to s, se Asia, Ryukyu Is. (s Japan), Philippines, Indonesian Arch., New Guinea and outlying nw Australian is.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The breeding season is April to July and the nest is placed near fast running streams or rivers on an embankment between stones and roots. The male in display, makes short flights up into the air and descends slowly with fluttering flight accompanied by a rapid series of chipping high notes. In Europe the nests are often made in holes in manmade structures. The clutch consists of 3–6 speckled eggs and multiple broods may be raised with declining numbers in the clutch in subsequent broods. The usual clutch size is five in Ireland and the breeding success is about 80% with predation of eggs or chicks being the main cause of breeding failure. The Canary Islands population typically have smaller clutches and the breeding season is not as short and well marked as in populations at higher latitudes. The incubation period is about two weeks with chicks fledging within a fortnight. They live for a maximum of 8 years in the wild.<p>In some parts of its range the white-throated dipper nests in the same habitats as the grey wagtail and there are some records of interspecific feeding of dipper chicks by adult wagtails.<p>These birds feed on a variety of aquatic invertebrates including adult flies, mayflies, beetles, crustacea and molluscs. They often forage along roadsides in winter, flushing with a sharp chi-cheep call and flying up further along the road but after some distance turning back to return to the original location.<p>In winter, they roost in small groups. Wintering birds have been known to return to the same sites, sometimes a small urban garden, each year.<p>Adults often have parasitic ticks, Ixodes ricinus, which can harbour Borrelia and thus can potentially disperse Lyme disease over a wide region. Coccidia such as Isospora sp. are known in this species. The common cuckoo is sometimes a brood parasite of this species, and kestrels may sometimes prey on them.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Hypsipetes ganeesa
Elegant dark bulbul with a bright red bill; very similar in appearance to Black Bulbul, but no range overlap. Dark charcoal-gray with a black crown. Fairly common in lowland and hill forests and forest edges, often gathering in large flocks, particularly outside of the breeding season. Song is a loud, high-pitched “chi-chik-chik!” Frequently gives a loud nasal meow, like a cat with a cold.
Black-breasted Hillstar
Oreotrochilus melanogaster
Large hummingbird found only at very high elevations in the Andes of central Peru. Male is dusky green with a sparkling green throat, a blue breast and belly, and gray sides. Female lacks the colorful underparts, and instead has a speckled throat and white tips to the tail. She is similar to females of both Andean and Green-headed Hillstars, but lacks white at the base of the tail feathers. The species inhabits open, scrubby habitat, usually above treeline, and feeds on a wide variety of flowers as well as insects.
Black-browed Triller
Lalage atrovirens
A medium-sized bird of lowland and foothill forest canopy. Black upperparts with white in the wing and a white rump in the male, white underparts with barring in the female. Limited geographical overlap with White-winged triller, but should be separated by habitat, with Black-browed in forest rather than open habitats. Voice includes various whistles, chips and a musical, rolling chatter.
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