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.
识别特征
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.
分类信息
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.
- 学名
- Motacilla tschutschensis
- 命名信息
- Gmelin, JF, 1789
- 目
- Passeriformes
- 科
- Motacillidae
- 属
- Motacilla
分布与栖息地
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.
- 迁徙
- Complete migrants
行为
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.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- declining
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Yellow-bellied Greenbul
Chlorocichla flaviventris
A large, burly greenbul with greenish upperparts and yellowish underparts. It has a distinctive red-brown eye with a diagnostic broken white eye-ring. A small shaggy crest and yellowish underwings further differentiate it. Pairs or small groups skulk in thickets and forest edge, where they forage on fruits and insects and are often first detected by their nagging nasal “yeehn-yeehn-yeehn” calls and various chattering. The similar Joyful Greenbul differs from Yellow-bellied Greenbul by having olivaceous rather than yellowish underparts and by lacking the white eye-ring.
Ringed Storm-Petrel
Hydrobates hornbyi
Handsome small seabird of Humboldt Current; not seen from shore, but breeds inland in Atacama Desert where it visits colonies at night to avoid predators. Plumage unlike all other storm-petrels, with black cap and collar, and white underparts contrasting with dark underwings. Upperparts also striking, with black cap, strong upperwing pattern, and gray tail (no contrasting white rump). Larger than most storm-petrels in its range, but size similar to Markham’s and Black Storm-Petrels, with which it readily associates.
Pacific Swallow
Hirundo javanica
Common swallow of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, often in cities and towns as well as above fields, lakes, and forests. Adult iridescent blue above and grayish buff below, with orangish throat and forehead. Similar to Barn Swallow, which has longer outer tail feathers and a dark line separating the throat and breast, lacking in Pacific. Frequently perches on telephone lines, often with other swallow species.
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