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24

White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) Alternate name(s): "Pied Wagtail", "Water Wagtail" Size: 18-20 cm Weight: 25-30 g

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Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description The plumage of White Wagtails is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Both males and females change their plumage with the seasons; for details see a field guide. In Australia usually only non-breeding birds are found. They have an all black, white and grey morphology, with a white head, white throat, black chest band, otherwise grey chest and white belly, vent and undertail coverts. The nape of the neck (in males also the crown) is grey to black, the rest of the back is grey. The wing feathers are black, with white edge lining. The eyes have dark irises. The slender, straight bill is black; the legs and feet are also black. Juveniles have a dusky front and a grey back. Twitcher's tip The plumages of all members of the Motacilla family of wagtails vary between the sexes, but also with season and age.

Taxonomy, classification See White Wagtail at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the White Wagtail is available HERE . Altogether, the about 10 currently recognized races of White Wagtails have a wide-spanning range. They occur basically all over Europe and in large parts of Asia, but they are very mobile and vagrant birds have been found farther South, through South-east Asia to Australia. Most of Asia to the North of the Himalaya is summer range; South-east Asia, the Indian subcontinent, all of Arabia and parts of the Middle East are winter range, while in southern/central/western Europe and parts of Korea and Japan White Wagtails can be found all year round. White Wagtails are listed as rare vagrants to Australia. There are only a few confirmed sightings, mostly along the North-West coast of the continent, but also on the West coast (with one exception, near Darwin, NT, all in WA) and even in the Melbourne, VIC, area. In Australia White Wagtails have so far only been reported in coastal areas.

Sightings Click here for sighting information L. George reports spotting a White Wagtail at Point Samson, near Karratha, WA, in October 2013. K. Dorey reports spotting a White Wagtail on the eastern tip of Australia, at Midgen Flat, Broken Head, Byron Bay, NSW, in December 2013. We have previously spotted White Wagtails in Oman.

Photos

More photos of White Wagtails were taken by us in Oman and in Europe.

Race "leucopsis"(?)

ADULT

MALE

NON-BREEDING

Near-frontal view of a non-breeding male White Wagtail (photo courtesy of L. George)
[Point Samson, WA, October 2013]

Lateral view of a non-breeding male White Wagtail (photo courtesy of L. George)
[Point Samson, WA, October 2013]

Lateral view of a non-breeding male White Wagtail, slightly different posture (photo courtesy of L. George)
[Point Samson, WA, October 2013]

Near-dorsal view of a non-breeding male White Wagtail (photo courtesy of L. George)
[Point Samson, WA, October 2013]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Vagrant

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Food, Diet

Like all other wagtails known to us, White Wagtails are insect hunters. They take their prey from the ground or the surface of fresh water.

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

whitwag_dw_20190407.m4a	alba (Poland)	Contact call(?)	© DW
whitwag_jp_20200117.m4a	alba (Portugal)	Contact calls(?)	© JP
whitwag_dw_20190715.m4a	alba (Poland)	Contact calls(?)	© DW
whitwag_dw_20190715_2.m4a	alba (Poland)	Contact calls(?)	© DW
whitwag_dw_20170326.m4a	alba (Poland)	Contact calls(?); male	© DW
whitwag_dw_20200726.m4a	alba (Poland)	Alarm calls (cat)	© DW

More White Wagtail sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Fri, 31 July 2020, 8:28 +00:00