Western Yellow Wagtail

Widespread wagtail, favoring wet meadows, marshland, grassy and muddy lakeshores. Occurs in fields and often near livestock during migration. Like other wagtails, walks on ground and pumps its long, white-sided tail up and down. Plumage highly variable, but breeding male wholly bright yellow below, with greenish back. Male head pattern varies regionally: in U.K. has greenish head with yellow eyebrow; in northern Europe head slaty gray overall; in central and southwest Europe head blue-gray with white eyebrow; striking white-headed birds in Mongolia and northwestern China. Individuals of several subspecies may winter together. Female and nonbreeding plumages drabber and paler, with ghosting of male patterns. Songs and calls vary between subspecies, but most give some form of buzzy “dzeerdzeer” or downslurrd “tzree.”

The yellow wagtail likes damp marshes, meadows and farmland, and spends much of its time running about on the ground, chasing insects disturbed by the feet of livestock. Yellow wagtails nest on the ground or in long grass, using plants, grasses and stems to build a cup-shape which they line with fur.

The Western Yellow Wagtail feeds on small invertebrates, both aquatic and terrestrial, and seeds. The wide variety of invertebrates includes Diptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, Isoptera and Hymenoptera, and small crustaceans, dragonflies and grasshoppers.