Grey Wagtail

How to identify

Field marks

1. Supercilium narrow and white; eye-ring broken
2. Upperparts gray
3. Rear underparts bright yellow; belly may be white or yellow
4. Breeding male has black throat bordered by white stripes

Male, female and young

Male has black throat in the breeding season; female has more white on the throat; winter and summer plumage differ slightly.

Voice

The call is clear and sharp; the song is a series of trills; when flushed in winter, it gives “chi-cheep”.

Similar species

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Grey Wagtail has gray upperparts and yellow rear underparts; it favors mountainous areas more than Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

Where and when it's recorded

Grey Wagtail has been recorded at 3,428 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 119 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)4,435 records
2. Kanha NP – Mukki ZoneIndia2,494 records
3. Beddington FarmlandsUnited Kingdom2,246 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaUnited KingdomIndiaSpainPortugalThailandPhilippinesJapan

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 species looks somewhat similar to the yellow wagtail but has the yellow on its underside restricted to the throat and vent. The species is widely distributed, with several populations breeding in Eurosiberia and migrating to tropical regions in Asia and Africa. The species is always associated with running water when breeding, although they may use man-made structures near streams for the nest.

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

Questions