Pied Wagtail
By Alan • March 11, 2012 • 8 commentsIt’s March and most birders over here are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the first spring migrants from whichever far-flung corner they’ve been wintering. In the meantime one of our earliest migrants and most familiar species is bobbing it’s tail northwards by the thousand.
Many of ‘our’ British Pied Wagtails never reach far-flung corners, in the winter months they are one of our hardiest species, often one of the few passerines to be found on a beach walk when all around is frozen and equally as likely to turn up in the car park of your local supermarket dodging designer footwear around entrance doors.
Pied Wagtail – male
Our Pied Wagtails are a different race to the familiar White Wagtail of Europe many of which will also pass through Britain heading for Iceland. Males of the British race yarrellii, named after 19th century English naturalist Willim Yarell, are black and white as opposed to the paler softer grey-mantled nominate alba males. Female Pied’s being greyer are much more likely to be confused with White Wagtails (and often are); a good look at the rump which should be grey in alba and black in yarrellii is the best way to sort them out.
Pied Wagtail -female
Much undervalued in my opinion these often feisty little birds are full of character from their lovely sweeping undulations in flight to the familiar ‘slee vitt’ flight call and the constant almost comical tail-bobbing on the ground. Without doubt one of the harbinger’s of Spring is a big flock of Pied Wagtails bouncing across a recently ploughed field or wet meadow just bursting with energy.
Pied Wagtail – probably 1st-summer female
The individual plumage variation along with different male, female and juvenile/1st-winter plumages makes this a fascinating species to study carefully and careful study is essential if you want to pick out one of it’s continental cousins on British soil. One of their best traits is they are often fairly tame and easy to photograph even for a camera numpty like me.
Tags: features, Pied Wagtail, wagtails
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Thanks for sharing this, Alan. I love wagtails, though I haven’t seen any yet (Amazing, right?) Do they fill the niche that mockingbirds occupy here in North America? I definitely see similarities.
That makes us even as I haven’t caught up with any Mockingbirds yet! Pied Wags tend to be fairly terrestrial, buildings, areas apparently without habitat, farmland, grass, pools lakes and ponds etc. They roost in trees but you don’t see them in trees much.
My favorite British bird. I miss them.
Man, I haven’t seen one of these since 2009. I want to go back to Europe!
I am hoping to find one (yarellii) in Germany this year, where they are true vagrants away from the North Sea coast. In Germany, the members of the alba-complex were split and are regarded as full species, not so in Britain?
@Mike: not really, and there really is no bird in North America that fills the niche of the wagtail. The wagtail is not a garden bird but a bird of more open spaces, like parking lots, meadows and fields, sports grounds etc. It also spends most of its time on the ground and when it perches somewhere, it will mostly be on buildings, hardly ever on bushes. As it is so closely related to the pipits, of course the American pipit comes close, and very interrestingly the Palm Warbler during its migration also behaves somewhat like a wagtail.
@Corey: [singing] Who you gonna call?!
Thanks, Jochen. What European bird do you think fills the niche of the mockingbird? Just curious.
That is very difficult to say. Mimids are an entirely American bird family, and I find it difficult to name Old World counterparts. It is much easier with groups that occur in both areas. Flickers for example are the New World Green Woodpeckers, our Blackbirds are your Robins, your House Finches are our Greenfinches etc., but Mimids?
Well, I guess you need to visit Europe and find out, ey?
And who you gonna call?!
Well, maybe the Mockingbird’s European counterpart is a hybrid between a Black Redstart and a European Robin?