A slim, lively wagtail with olive-green upper-parts and yellow below. It is a winter visitor that can be seen running about in pasture land and marshy fields. It feeds on insects which it picks up from the ground or from water, and occasionally it springs into the air to catch its prey. It flies in undulating curves, a few quick flaps of the wings followed by a pause, and accompanied by its distinctive weesp call. It roosts in large numbers in reed-beds and standing crops, forming dense clouds of birds before suddenly disappearing into the vegetation.
🗒 Synonyms
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🗒 Common Names
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📚 Overview
Summary
Bird group
Wagtails and pipits
Description
The yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is a slender, long-tailed, long-legged bird most often seen walking on the ground near water courses with the tail wagging fervently. The bird is of yellow and green colour. During the breeding season, the male has yellow coloured underparts and a green back. It has two yellow-white bars on the coverts of black coloured wings. During the non-breeding season the male gets duller in appearance, with pale coloured yellow underparts and brown coloured back.
SubSpecies Varieties Races
Motacilla flava flava (Linnaeus, 1758) – blue-headed wagtail
Motacilla flava flavissima (Blyth, 1834) – yellow-crowned wagtail
Motacilla flava thunbergi (Billberg, 1828) – dark-headed wagtail or grey-headed wagtail
Motacilla flava iberiae (Hartert, 1921) – Iberian yellow wagtail
Motacilla flava cinereocapilla (Savi, 1831) – ashy-headed wagtail
Motacilla flava pygmaea (A. E. Brehm, 1854) – Egyptian yellow wagtail
Motacilla flava feldegg (Michahelles, 1830) – black-headed wagtail
Motacilla flava lutea (S. G. Gmelin, 1774) – yellow-headed wagtail
Motacilla flava beema (Sykes, 1832) – Sykes' wagtail
Motacilla flava melanogrisea (Homeyer, 1878) – Turkestan black-headed wagtail
Motacilla flava plexa (Thayer & Bangs, 1914) – north Siberian yellow wagtail
Motacilla flava leucocephala (Przevalski, 1887) – white-headed yellow wagtail
No Data
📚 Nomenclature and Classification
📚 Natural History
Size
Relative Size (Birds)
Sparrow±
The western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) measures about 16.5 cm in length, The male bird weighs about 12.3 to 26.4 g and the female weighs about 11.2 to 22.6 g [del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (2004) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Wildscreen Arkive, https://www.arkive.org/yellow-wagtail/motacilla-flava/image-G97758.html, date of access - 13/04/2018].
No Data
📚 Habitat and Distribution
General Habitat
Habitat
Terrestrial
Freshwater
Damp pastures, marshy areas with short vegetation, margins of rivers, lakes and beels.
The yellow wagtail occurs in a variety of damp or wet habitats with low vegetation, from rushy pastures, meadows, hay fields and marshes to damp steppe and grassy tundra. Outside of the breeding season it is also found in cultivated areas. The yellow wagtail typically forages in damp grassland and on relatively bare open ground at edges of rivers, lakes and wetlands, but also feeds in dry grassland and in fields of cereal crops [del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (2004) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona].
Description
Global Distribution
India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
Distribution In India
Common winter visitor to the entire Indian Union, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Island
Distribution In Assam
Migratory in Assam
The western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) occurs across Europe, Africa and Asia, to Alaska and northern Australia. its breeds at northern latitudes and travels southwards before the onset of winter. It breeds at northern latitudes and travels southwards before the onset of winter. In general, those populations breeding in western Europe winter in northwest and sub-Saharan Africa, eastern European breeding populations winter in northeast Africa and West Asia, while breeding populations in central, north and east Asia and Alaska winter in the Indian Subcontinent, southeast Asia or northern Australia [del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (2004) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 9: Cotingas to Pipits and Wagtails. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona].
Global Distribution
Native: Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Angola; Armenia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belarus; Belgium; Benin; Bhutan; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Bulgaria; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; China; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Djibouti; Egypt; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Estonia; Ethiopia; Finland; France; Gabon; Gambia; Georgia; Germany; Ghana; Gibraltar; Greece; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Hungary; India; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Lebanon; Liberia; Libya; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malawi; Mali; Malta; Mauritania; Moldova; Monaco; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Nepal; Netherlands; Niger; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Romania; Russian Federation (Central Asian Russia, Eastern Asian Russia, European Russia); Rwanda; San Marino; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Serbia; Sierra Leone; Slovakia; Slovenia; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Swaziland; Sweden; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Uganda; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uzbekistan; Western Sahara; Yemen; Zambia; Zimbabwe Vagrant: Cape Verde; Comoros; Faroe Islands; Iceland; Maldives; Seychelles; Svalbard and Jan Mayen
No Data
📚 Occurrence
No Data
📚 Demography and Conservation
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List Category
Least Concern
No Data
📚 Uses and Management
📚 Information Listing
References
- Praveen J., Jayapal, R., & Pittie, A., 2016. Checklist of the birds of India (v1.1). Website: http://www.indianbirds.in/india/ [Date of publication: 03 October, 2016].
- Praveen J., Jayapal, R., & Pittie, A., 2018. Checklist of the birds of India (v2.0). Website: http://www.indianbirds.in/india/ [Date of publication: 31 January, 2018].
- Yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava), Wildscreen Arkive. https://www.arkive.org/yellow-wagtail/motacilla-flava/image-G97758.html, Date of access - 13/04/2018.
Information Listing > References
- Praveen J., Jayapal, R., & Pittie, A., 2016. Checklist of the birds of India (v1.1). Website: http://www.indianbirds.in/india/ [Date of publication: 03 October, 2016].
- Praveen J., Jayapal, R., & Pittie, A., 2018. Checklist of the birds of India (v2.0). Website: http://www.indianbirds.in/india/ [Date of publication: 31 January, 2018].
- Yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava), Wildscreen Arkive. https://www.arkive.org/yellow-wagtail/motacilla-flava/image-G97758.html, Date of access - 13/04/2018.
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🐾 Taxonomy
| Root | Root |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Passeriformes |
| Family | Motacillidae |
| Genus | Motacilla |
| Species | Motacilla flava Linnaeus 1758 |
📊 Temporal Distribution
📷 Related Observations
