Eastern Yellow Wagtail

How to identify

Field marks

1. Long tail, wagged constantly
2. Breeding male has olive back and yellow belly
3. Bill, legs and feet black
4. Hind toe claw long and only slightly curved

Male, female and young

Male has mainly olive upperparts and yellow underparts in the breeding season, with head color and pattern varying by subspecies; in other plumages, especially first-winter plumage and that of many females, the yellow may be diluted by white.

Voice

A high-pitched “zrri” or “jeet”, more shrill and harsh than in Western Yellow Wagtail.

Similar species

Western Yellow Wagtail

Eastern Yellow Wagtail has a long, only slightly curved hind claw; Western Yellow Wagtail has a shorter, more curved hind claw, often difficult to see in grass; Eastern Yellow Wagtail has a more shrill, harsh call.

Where and when it's recorded

Eastern Yellow Wagtail has been recorded at 1,284 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 43 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)3,667 records
2. Mai Po Nature ReserveHong Kong (China)2,512 records
3. GambellUnited States1,955 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaThailandIndiaUnited StatesPhilippinesAustraliaSingaporeCambodia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The eastern yellow wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis) is a small passerine in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. It was formerly usually classified as a subspecies of the western yellow wagtail, but was split from it in 2003 when genetic data showed this classification to be paraphyletic with respect to the citrine wagtail. It breeds in the eastern Palearctic and Alaska and migrates to South Asia and Australia.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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