Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Motacilla ("wagtail") citreola ("golden yellow")

Adult Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) near Side, Antalya, Turkey - March 2025

Featured Subspecies: Motacilla citreola citreola
Weight: 18-25g  /  Length: 15-17cm  /  Wingspan: 24-27cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

One of my favourite birds of the trip, the Citrine Wagtail is a strikingly yellow species, in contrast the local Western Yellow Wagtails which were of the "Black-headed wagtail" (M. f. feldegg) subspecies.  While its range does cover partso of Ukraine and Belarus and pockets in the Baltic, the bulk of its range is central Asia where breeds from the Arctic Ocean down to Himalayas, and then Winters on the Indian Subcontinent and more Northerly parts of South-East Asia. The bird seen in Antalya would have been on passage, either to the small Turkish population or to Eastern Europe.

Related Species: 
Order:  Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
SUBSPECIES: M. c. citreola, M. c. werae, M. c. calcarata

 - Sighting Locations -

TURKEY  - Turkish: Sarı başlı kuyruksallayan ("Yellow headed wagtail")
 - ANTALYA 2025 TRIP - One near Side

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis)

OTHER NAMES: Yellow Wagtail
Latin Etymology: Motacilla ("wagtail") tschutschensis ("of the Chukhotsi penninsula, Siberia")

Partially moulted Eastern Yellow Wagtail (subspecies M. t. macronyx) at Phnom Krom, Cambodia - February 2019

Featured Subspecies: Motacilla tschitschensis macronyx
Weight: 16-20g  /  Length: 15-16cm  /  Wingspan: ?
ABSENT FROM UK / IUCN Red List: Least Concern 

Wagtails are always a pleasant sight, with their distinctive markings and characterful movement, it's never not nice to see one.  Taxonomically though, they are frequently a vexatious group, with wildly varying patternatation on different races and subspecies giving the appearance that they should be entirely different species.  In the case of the Yellow Wagtail, a split separated them into Eastern and Western species, but even within these delineated groups there is a lot of variety, with multiple subspecies turning up at different locations.  In this case, the lack of a supercillium is, as far as I can work out, a feature of the subspecies macronyx, which is the expected visitor for Cambodia.

Related Species:
Order:  Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
SUBSPECIES: M. t. plexa, M. t. tschutschensis, M. t. taivana, M. t. macronyx

 - Sighting Locations -

CAMBODIA - Khmer name: ខ្ទប់ដីពោះលឿង ("Yellow Covered Wagtail")

A locally Wintering species.

SINGAPORE / CAMBODIA 2019 TRIP - One at Phnom Krom

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto .

Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla grandis)

OTHER NAMES: Japanese Pied Wagtail

Latin Etymology: Motacilla ("wagtail") grandis ("large")

 Adult Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla Grandis) in Arashiyama, Japan - July 2013

Featured Subspecies: N/A
Weight: 28-31g  /  Length: 21cm  /  Wingspan: ?
ABSENT FROM UK / IUCN Red List Least Concern

The Japanese Wagtail is fills a very similar role to the Grey and Pied Wagtails found in the UK, although it is more closely tied to water than Pied.  It coexists with the Japanese race of the White Wagtail, but they have quite distinct plumage patterns to differentiate the two of them.  Another fairly confiding species, like wagtails in europe it pays fairly little attention to humans down to very short distances.  It apparently favours river habitats with shingled bars in the river, which fits with the locations I saw them.  I didn't encounter this species on my second trip to Japan - this is probably mostly due to lack of appropriate habitat.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
Subspecies: None - monotypic

- Sighting Locations -

JAPAN - Japanese - セグロセキレイ  /  Se-guro sekirei ("Black-backed Wagtail")

Locally common resident to most of Japan, Summer breeding only in most of Hokkaido

 - KYOTO/OSAKA 2013 TRIP: A few birds at Kyoto and Arashiyama.

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto .

Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

OTHER NAMES: Yellow Wagtail

Latin Etymology: Motacilla ("wagtail") flava ("golden yellow")

 Adult Western Yellow Wagtail (subspecies M. f. flavissima) at Eyebrook Reservoir, Rutland - April 2026

Featured Subspecies: Motacilla flava flavissima
Weight: 16-22g  /  Length: 23-27cm  /  Wingspan: 23-27cm

UK RED LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The least common of the UK's three Wagtails, the Yellow Wagtail can prove a little elusive to see as it has more specific habitat requirements. I've personally had luck around September by lakes and reservoirs but their favourite habitat is cow fields by water where the cows churn up the ground to give the wagtails places to feed. Photographing them is marginally more difficult than the other two wagtails once you actually find them, as they are not quite so urbanised, but they still allow fairly close approach compared to most species.  The other unusual feature of the Yellow Wagtail is that of all the UK species, it has the most variation between the subspecies, with some of the many subspecies found across it's range looking like entirely different birds to one another.

Related Species:
Order:  Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
Subspecies: M.f. flava, M.f. flavissima, M.f. beema, M.f. leucocephala, M.f. cinereocapilla, M.f. iberiae, M.f. pygmaea, M.f. thunbergi, M.f. feldegg, M.f. melanogrisea, M.f. lutea  

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Local Summer breeding migrant (15,000 territories)

 - Seen at Rutland Water, Pitsford Reservoir and Nene Washes

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

OTHER NAMES: Barley Bird
Latin Etymology: Motacilla ("wagtail") cinerea ("ash-grey")

  Adult Grey Wagtail (subspecies M. c. cinerea) at Geddington, Northants - October 2009

Featured Subspecies: Motacilla cinerea cinerea
Weight: 12-26g  /  Length: 16.5cm  /  Wingspan: 25-30cm

UK AMBER LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

A fairly common wagtail, although no way near as prevalent as the very common pied wagtail. The grey wagtail is identified by it's grey chest and yellow chest, compared against the complete greyscale of the pied and the complete yellow of the yellow. It shouldn't be that hard to find, I've occassionally seen it in urban areas, but more often along streams and rivers. All the wagtails are comparatively bold so this shouldn't be too difficult a species.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
Subspecies: M. c. cinerea, M. c. patriciae, M. c. schmitzi, M. c. melanope, M. c. robusta, M. c. canariensis    

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Fairly common resident (38,000 pairs)

 - Seen in several locations including Rutland Water, Rainham Marshes, Pitsford Reservoir and Geddington.

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

OTHER NAMES: Pied Wagtail, Water Wagtail
Latin Etymology: Motacilla ("wagtail") alba ("white")

Adult White Wagtail (subspecies M. l. yarrelli - Pied Wagtail) at Pitsford Reservoir, Northants - December 2014

Adult White Wagtail (subspecies M. a. lugens - Black-backed Wagtail) at Akkeshi, Japan - December 2014

Featured Subspecies: Motacilla alba yarrellii & Motacilla alba lugens

Weight: 25g  /  Length: 16.5-21cm  /  Wingspan: 25-30cm

UK GREEN LIST / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The White Wagtail is a species with a vast range, covering almost the entirity of Eurasia, with some presence in North Africa and a toe-hold in Alaska.  It is a highly variable species, with each each of the races having plumages in different combinations of black, white and grey, as seen in the two examples above, with some races being significantly paler than others.  It is quite possible that these may be split at some point into further species, but as of current taxonomy at least, the "Black-backed Wagtail" of North East Asia has been lumped back in to the wider species.  

Further Information:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
Subspecies: M. a. alba, M. a. yarrellii, M. a. subpersonata, M. a. persica, M. a. dukhunensis, M. a. personata, M. a. baicalensis, M. a. ocularis, M. a. lugens

- Sighting Locations -

UNITED KINGDOM - Abundant breeding resident (470,000 pairs)

 - Seen in virtually every location including Rutland Water,  Rainham Marshes, Regent's Park, Pitsford Reservoir, Ditchford Gravel Pits, Eyebrook Reservoir and Geddington.

JAPAN - Japanese - ハクセキレイ / haku-sekirei ("white wagtail"*)
Abundant resident - one of the most common urban birds.

 - KYOTO 2013 TRIP: A single bird seen in Osaka 

 - TOKYO/HOKKAIDO 2014 TRIP: Seen in Central Tokyo and single individual along shore-front at Akkeshi 

SPAIN - Spanish - Lavandera blanca ("White Laundress")

A reasonably common resident,

 - MADRID 2016 TRIP: Seen near, El Pardo

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

* The Black-backed Wagtail has been split off from this species by some authorities, but other subspecies of White Wagtail are still found in Japan.  However, they still currently share the same name in Japanese to my knowledge.

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