White wagtail

Description

The white wagtail is a slender, rather high-legged songbird with a long tail that is constantly in bobbing motion. The tail accounts for about 9 cm of the 16.5-19 cm body length. The weight is about 25 g. The beak, like the legs and feet, is black, and in basic plumage it has a horn-coloured base.

nuptial plumage

In nuptial plumage, the male's forehead is white except for the middle part of the crown, as is a section behind the eye and the sides of the head and neck. The back of the head and neck are shiny black, as are the chin, throat and forechest, and are usually cleanly contrasted with the white parts of the face and the grey back. The rump is slate to black-grey as are the uppertail coverts, of which the lateral ones on the outer vane are fringed with white. The grey of the shoulder feathers blends into the pure white of the underparts on the breast sides and flanks. The undertail coverts are also white. The tail is glossy black and, as the two outer pairs of feathers are black only at the base and inner vane, shows broad white outer edges, which are particularly noticeable when the bird flies up. In addition, the middle pair of tail feathers is narrowly fringed with white. The wing feathers are blackish brown with white to light grey fringes. The primaries are finely fringed with white, as are the primary coverts and the wing feathers. On the secondaries the outer edges become broader towards the tertials and take up a large part of the outer vane on the latter. Here they are dirty white to light grey. The greater coverts are similarly fringed, the inner ones bearing an extended white, stepped tip. The middle coverts show a broad lace fringe. The underwing coverts are dirty white.

The nuptial dress of the female is similar to that of the male, but the white parts of the face are usually not so distinct from the black and are partly greyish mottled. The black colouring of the nape blends into the grey of the back and is not sharply defined as in the male. In addition, the wing plumage is usually not as contrastingly brightly fringed as in the male. In some females the head markings may be as or similar to those of the male.

basic plumage

The basic plumage of adult birds lack the black areas on the head. They are limited to a crescent-shaped band on the breast and a partly distinct cheek patch. The forehead is dirty white to grey. The head, neck, ear coverts and cheeks are grey. The facial area may have a yellowish tinge. The rest of the plumage corresponds to the nuptial plumage. The male differs from the female only in the darker crown interspersed with black feathers.

juvenile plumage

In juvenile plumage the upperparts are predominantly grey, the back a little lighter, the top of the head and the nape of the neck a little brownish. On top behind the eye there is an over-eye stripe, which like the sides of the neck, the chin and the throat are dirty white. The ear coverts are dark dirty yellow. A crescent-shaped chest band as well as a chin stripe emanating from it are brown-black to yellow-brown. The sides of the breast are grey, the underparts white. Wing and tail plumage resemble adult plumage, but fade quickly and then show little contrast between centres and fringes.

The white wagtail inhabits semi-open and open landscapes and is found practically everywhere except in closed forest areas and densely built-up urban centres. Important here are unvegetated or short-grassed ground areas, which are needed for foraging, and the same surrounding, higher structures such as buildings or groups of trees, which have suitable niches for nesting. Preference is given to sites near water bodies - the primary habitat probably consists of muddy, sandy, gravelly or stony banks, as they occur especially in large riverine landscapes. Today, the cultural landscape offers corresponding areas on a large scale, such as pastures, fields, farm roads, asphalted areas, construction and gravel pits or open fallow and ruderal areas. The white wagtail is therefore particularly common in the vicinity of farming villages, where there is also an abundant supply of nesting opportunities. In the mountains, the species can still be found a good distance above the tree line at altitudes of up to 3000 metres.

Outside the breeding season, white wagtails can be found mainly at water bodies of all kinds, but also on ploughed fields. Communal roosting sites are usually on water surfaces in reeds or willow scrub, but also in other sheltered places. Especially birds wintering in more northerly latitudes like to seek out brightly lit places in urban and residential areas at night, which have a warmer microclimate. 

The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachstelze). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 19 October 2021