Pied Wagtails

Pied Wagtails are regular visitors to our garden and in the last couple of years they've bred on a neighbours property but bring their newly fledged young to feed here. We also get a good passage in the autumn and winter and a few years ago I found a colour ringed bird, that had been ringed in Scotland, feeding with a flock on a flooded stubble field. See here for details.

Both our male and female local pair were ringed by me earlier in the year and both birds were present when the first brood of young wagtails fledged in early May. There was obviously a second brood as we've had another brood of 3 recently fledged young being fed by both adults in the garden. Intriguingly though the male bird is ringed but the female appears to be a new unringed bird.

The pair seemed to take responsibility for feeding individual young that begged whenever the parents came near with a beak full of insects. What happened to the original female I'll probably never know but its likely she was predated either by a cat or the local Sparrowhawk.

The Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) is a race of the nominate 'White" Wagtail (Motacilla alba alba) that breeds on continental that is a common bird on passage in spring and autumn.

Pied Wagtails are relatively straight forward to age in the hand as they normally retain some juvenile greater coverts after their post juvenile moult. The male bird was aged as a 2nd calendar year bird (Euring 5) as he had a single retained juvenile greater covert thats duller and browner than the neighbouring adult type. He's done pretty well in his first breeding season to fledge two broods!