White Wagtail Totally Explained

Everything about Pied Wagtail totally explained

The White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of Europe and Asia and parts of north Africa. It is resident in the mildest parts of its range, but otherwise migrates to Africa. It has a toehold in Alaska as a scarce breeder.
This 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 man-made structures.

Taxonomy

The White Wagtail was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original name of Motacilla alba. The Latin genus name originally meant "little mover", but certain medieval writers though it meant "wag-tail", giving rise to a new Latin word cilla for "tail". The specific epithet alba is latin for "white".

Description

nominate subspecies Motacilla alba alba is basically grey above and white below, with a white face, black cap and black throat.
There are a number of other subspecies, some of which may have arisen because of partial geographical isolation, such as the resident British form, the Pied Wagtail M. a. yarrellii, which now also breeds in adjacent areas of the neighbouring European mainland. Pied Wagtail, named for naturalist William Yarrell, exchanges the grey colour of the nominate form with black (or very dark grey in females), but is otherwise identical in its behaviour. Other subspecies, the validity of some of which is questionable differ in the color of the wings, back, and head, or other features. mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data suggests that this species is polyphyletic or paraphyletic. While the White Wagtail appears to form a superspecies with the Japanese and White-browed Wagtails (and possibly the Mekong Wagtail, the phylogenetic position of which is mysterious), the internal systematics of the White Wagtail are still unresolved at present.

Behaviour

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 recent study has suggested instead that it's 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 in the order Diptera. Small fish fry have also been recorded in the diet. The White Wagtail is somewhat unusual in the parts of it range where it's non-migratory as it's a 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

White Wagtails are monogamous and defend breeding territories. Though it's known to be a host species for the Common Cuckoo, the White Wagtail typically deserts its nest if it has been parasitised. Scientists theorise 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.

Subspecies

Eleven subspecies are currently recognised. Information on the plumage differences and distribution of the subspecies of White Wagtail is show below.

Subspecies	Range	Notes
M. a. alba	Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to Ural Mountains, Turkey, the Levant, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland's east coast. Some migrate to the south of Europe and Africa down as far as Kenya and Malawi	Nominate subspecies
M. a. yarrellii	Great Britain and Ireland, birds in the northern in part of the range winter in Spain and North Africa, resident further south.	Pied Wagtail. Has a much blacker back than the nominate race, black of throat continues on side of neck
M. a. dukhunensis	West Siberian Plain - east Caspian Sea (part of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan), winters in the Middle East and India.	Indian Pied Wagtail. The upperparts of this subspecies are paler and more blue-grey than nominate, and has it has a continuous unbroken white panel on wing coverts.
M. a. persica	North central and western Iran.	Intermediate between M. a. dukhunensis and M. a. personata.
M. a. subpersonata	Non-migratory resident of Morocco	Moroccan Wagtail. It has more black on the head than the nominate, and resembles a grey-backed, white-throated African Pied Wagtail
M. a. personata	Hindu Kush, Tian Shan, Altay Mountains (northern Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang)	Masked Wagtail. All-black head with a white face mask
M. a. alboides	Himalayas and surrounding area
M. a. baicalensis	Russia in Lake Baikal area, Mongolia, Inner Mongolia
M. a. ocularis	Siberia, Far Eastern (Russia, eastwards from Central Siberian Plateau) expanding into West Alaska
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.
M. a. leucopsis	Mainland China, Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Japan (Ryukyu Islands, Kyūshū)expanding Japan (Honshu), Southeast Asia, India and Oceania

Gallery

Image:White Wagtail 001.jpg|White wagtail, Moscow region, Russia 2007 Image:White Wagtail 05apr2007 13.jpg|White Wagtail at Moscow region Russia april 2007 Image:Wagtail White Young.jpg|Young White wagtail, Moscow region, Russia 2007 Image:White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) near Hodal I IMG 9645.jpg| near Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:White Wagtail- (Non-breeding- leucopsis race) at Kolkata I IMG 3546.jpg| Non-breeding- leucopsis race in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Image:White wagtail- (Non-breeding- leucopsis race) at Kolkata I IMG 9947.jpg| Non-breeding- leucopsis race in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Image:White Wagtail- (Non-breeding- leucopsis race) at Kolkata I IMG 7984.jpg| Non-breeding- leucopsis race in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Image:White Wagtail- (Non-breeding- leucopsis race) at Kolkata I1 IMG 5597.jpg| Non-breeding- leucopsis race in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Image:White Wagtail- (Non-breeding- leucopsis race) - About to take off at Kolkata I IMG 7283.jpg|Non-breeding- leucopsis race in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Image:White wagtail - Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal- I IMG 9164.jpg| Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:White wagtail - Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal- I IMG 9162.jpg| Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:White wagtail - Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal- I IMG 8818.jpg| Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:White wagtail - Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal- I3-Haryana IMG 8812.jpg| Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. Image:Motacilla alba alba.JPG|White Wagtail (M. a. alba) Image:Pied Wagtail rear view 700.jpg|Pied Wagtail (M. a. yarrellii) Image:Motacilla_alba_(Marek_Szczepanek).jpg|Young bird Image:Motacilla_alba.jpg|Hybrid between yarrelii and alba, or a yarrelli female Image:Motacilla alba yarrellii -Pied Wagtail -SE England.jpg|Motacilla alba yarrellii, Pied Wagtail in SE England. Further Information

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