Western Yellow Wagtail

How to identify

Field marks

1. Long tail constantly wagged up and down
2. Breeding male has olive back and yellow belly
3. Male head color and pattern vary by subspecies
4. Bill brown; legs and feet brown to black

Male, female and young

Male has olive back and yellow belly in the breeding season; in other plumages, especially juvenile, the yellow may be so pale as to appear almost white.

Voice

A high-pitched “jeet”.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: April and September · Most records: Spain, United Kingdom, India

Western Yellow Wagtail has been recorded at 1,923 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 128 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. International Birding and Research Center Eilat (IBRCE)Israel2,727 records
2. Lezíria Grande de Vila Franca de Xira – área geralPortugal2,152 records
3. Desembocadura del Guadalhorce – ÁreaSpain2,030 records

Countries and regions with the most records

SpainUnited KingdomIndiaPortugalIsraelGermanyGreeceSweden

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 western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of temperate Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, moving south to tropical Africa and southern Asia for the winter; the small population breeding in Egypt is however resident there.

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

Questions