The white wagtail (Motacilla alba) is a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which also includes pipits and longclaws. The species breeds in the Palearctic zone in most of Europe and Asia and parts of North Africa; it also has a toehold in western Alaska as a scarce breeder. It is resident in the mildest parts of its range, but otherwise migrates to Africa. In total, there are between 9 and 11 subspecies of M. alba; in Ireland and Great Britain, the black-backed subspecies known as the pied wagtail (M. a. yarrellii) predominates.
The white wagtail is an insectivorous bird of open country, often near habitation and water. It prefers bare areas for feeding, where it can see and pursue its prey. In urban areas, it has adapted to foraging on paved areas such as car parks. It nests in crevices in stone walls and similar natural and human-made structures. It is listed as being 'of least concern' by IUCN. The specific epithet alba is Latin for "white".
Within the wagtail genus Motacilla, the white wagtail's closest genetic relatives appear to be other black-and-white wagtails such as the Japanese wagtail Motacilla grandis and the white-browed wagtail Motacilla madaraspatensis (and possibly the Mekong wagtail Motacilla samveasnae, the phylogenetic position of which is mysterious), with which it appears to form a superspecies. However, mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data suggests that the white wagtail is itself polyphyletic or paraphyletic (i.e. the species is not itself a single coherent grouping). Other phylogenetic studies using mtDNA still suggest that there is considerable gene flow within the races and the resulting closeness makes Motacilla alba a single species. A study has suggested the existence of only two groups: the alba group, with M. a. alba, M. a. yarrellii, M. a. baicalensis, M. a. ocularis, M. a. lugens, and M. a. subpersonata; and the alboides group, with M. a. alboides, M. a. leucopsis and M. a. personata.
Description
left|thumbnail|An adult with a juvenile in Kazakhstan
thumb|left|An adult in [[Sweden with insects in its beak to its young.]]
The white wagtail is a slender bird, in length; the East Asian subspecies are slightly longer, measuring up to . It has the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. Its average weight is and the maximum lifespan in the wild is about 12 years.
There are a number of other subspecies, some of which may have arisen because of partial geographical isolation, such as the resident British and Irish form, the pied wagtail M. a. yarrellii, which now also breeds in adjacent areas of the neighbouring European mainland. The pied wagtail, named after the naturalist William Yarrell, exchanges the pale grey colour of the nominate subspecies with black in males, and dark grey in females and juveniles, but is otherwise identical in its behaviour. Other subspecies, the validity of some of which is questionable, differ in the colour of the wings, back, and head, or other features. Some races show sexual dimorphism during the breeding season. As many as six subspecies may be present in the wintering grounds in India or southeast Asia and here they can be difficult to distinguish. Phylogenetic studies using mtDNA suggest that some morphological features have evolved more than once, including the back and chin colour. Breeding M. a. yarrellii look much like the nominate race except for the black back, and M. a. alboides of the Himalayas differs from the Central Asian M. a. personata only by its black back. M. a. personata has been recorded breeding in the Siddar Valley of Kashmir of the Western Himalayas. It has also been noted that both back and chin change colour during the pre-basic moult; all black-throated subspecies develop white chins and throats in winter and some black-backed birds are grey-backed in winter. Two others, M. a. dukhunensis and M. a. persica, are accepted by some other authors, but are generally considered synonyms of M. a. alba.
{| width=100% class="wikitable"
!width=17% | Subspecies
!width=32% |Range
!width=31% | Notes
!width = 20% | Image
|-
| M. a. yarrellii
|Great Britain and Ireland; birds in the northern part of the range winter in Spain and North Africa, those further south are resident.
|-
|M. a. lugens
|Russia Far East (Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai), Kamchatka Peninsula, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Japan (Hokkaidō, Honshū)
|Black-backed wagtail or Kamchatka/Japanese pied wagtail, similar to M. a. yarrellii, but has a black eyestripe and white remiges; might have a claim to constitute a distinct species.
|150px
|-
|M. a. leucopsis
|China, Korean Peninsula, Japan (Ryukyu Islands, Kyūshū), expanding into Japan (Honshū), Southeast Asia, India, and Oceania
|Amur wagtail
|150px
|-
|M. a. alboides
|Himalayas and surrounding area
|This subspecies has a black back and a lot of black around the head, a white wing panel and white edges on the secondaries and tertials.
|150px
|-
|[M. a. persica]
|North central and western Iran.
|Intermediate between M. a. dukhunensis and M. a. personata. Now usually included in alba; appears to be hybrid or intergrade population. White wagtails are residents in the milder parts of its range such as the western half of Europe and the Mediterranean, but migratory in much of the rest of its range. Northern European breeders winter around the Mediterranean and in tropical and subtropical Africa, and Asiatic birds move to the Middle East, India, Birds from the North American population also winter in tropical Asia.
Behaviour and ecology
The most conspicuous habit of this species is a near-constant tail wagging, a trait that has given the species, and indeed the genus, its common name. In spite of the ubiquity of this behaviour, the reasons for it are poorly understood. It has been suggested that it may flush prey, or signal submissiveness to other wagtails. A study in 2004 has suggested instead that it is a signal of vigilance to potential predators.
Diet and feeding
The exact composition of the diet of white wagtails varies by location, but terrestrial and aquatic insects and other small invertebrates form the major part of the diet. These range from beetles, dragonflies, small snails, spiders, worms, crustaceans, to maggots found in carcasses and, most importantly, flies. Small fish fry have also been recorded in the diet. The white wagtail is somewhat unusual in the parts of its range where it is non-migratory as it is an insectivorous bird that continues to feed on insects during the winter (most other insectivorous birds in temperate climates migrate or switch to more vegetable matter).
Breeding
right|thumb|Eggs, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden, Germany]]
right|thumb|Juvenile M. a. alba in northern Norway, showing the grey face and chest
White wagtails are monogamous and defend breeding territories. Three to eight eggs are laid, with the usual number being four to six. The eggs are cream-coloured, often with a faint bluish-green or turquoise tint, and heavily spotted with reddish brown; they measure, on average, . Both parents incubate the eggs, although the female generally does so for longer and incubates at night. The eggs begin to hatch after 12 days (sometimes as late as 16 days). Both parents feed the chicks until they fledge after between 12 and 15 days, and the chicks are fed for another week after fledging.
Though it is known to be a host species for the common cuckoo, the white wagtail typically deserts its nest if it has been parasitised. Moksnes et al. theorised that this occurs because the wagtail is too small to push the intruding egg out of the nest, and too short-billed to destroy the egg by puncturing it.
Status
This species has a large range, with an estimated extent of more than . The population size is between 130 and 230 million. The white wagtail is the national bird of Latvia, and has been often mentioned in its folk songs.
The pied wagtail has occasionally been called "water wagtail"; and in Ireland "willie wagtail", not to be confused with the Australian species Rhipidura leucophrys which bears the same common name.
References
External links
- Videos, photos and sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
- Masked, pied and white wagtail photos - Norwegian Cyberbirding
- "Pied Wagtail... The Gipsy Bird" Pied wagtails in Welsh Romani culture - Romani Rise
- Identification article with pictures (PDF)
- Ageing and sexing (PDF; 4.9 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze