Eastern yellow wagtail

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Eastern yellow wagtail
M. t. simillima

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Motacillidae
Genus: Motacilla
Species:
M. tschutschensis
Binomial name
Motacilla tschutschensis
Subspecies

5, but see text

The eastern yellow wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis) is a small

Palearctic
and Alaska and migrates to South Asia and Australia.

Taxonomy

The eastern yellow wagtail was

locality, the Chukchi Peninsula is eastern Russia.[4] Gmelin based his account on the "Tchutschi wagtail" that had been described by John Latham in 1783 and by Thomas Pennant in 1785.[5][6] In his description Pennant wrote "Taken off the Tchutschi coat, with the Streights of Bering, Lat. 66, north." This is almost certainly the bird captured in 1778 during James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The naturalist William Wade Ellis, who accompanied Cook, produced a painting of the specimen and in the caption wrote "caught on board, lat. 66". Ellis's painting is now in the collection of the Natural History Museum, London.[7][8]

Four subspecies are recognised:[9]

  • M. t. plexa (Thayer & Bangs, 1914) – central north Siberia
  • M. t. tschutschensis Gmelin, JF, 1789 – south Siberia, north Mongolia, east Kazakhstan and northwest China to northeast Siberia and northwest North America
  • M. t. macronyx (Stresemann, 1920) – central south Siberia, northeast Mongolia and northeast China
  • M. t. taivana (Swinhoe, 1863) – southeast Siberia to Sakhalin (east Russia), and far north Hokkaido (north Japan)

Three species of yellow wagtails are recognised in the Palearctic: the eastern yellow wagtail, the

phenotypic taxonomy.[10][11] The nuclear genetic divergence between the western and eastern yellow wagtails is small and some ornithologists choose to not split the species so that the eastern races become subspecies of M. flava.[12]

Description

It is a slender 15–16 cm long bird, with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. The breeding adult male is basically olive above and yellow below. In other plumages, the yellow may be diluted by white. The heads of breeding males come in a variety of colours and patterns depending on subspecies.

The call is a characteristic high-pitched jeet.[13]

Distribution and habitat

This species breeds in the East

Marianas, only the occasional stray individual – usually females or immatures as it seems – is encountered.[13][14]

Behaviour

This

insectivorous bird inhabits open country near water, such as wet meadows
. It nests in tussocks, laying 4–8 speckled eggs.

The

Apororhynchus paulonucleatus was discovered in the colon and cloaca of the eastern yellow wagtail.[15]

References

  1. . Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  2. ^ Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1789). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 962.
  3. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 134.
  4. .
  5. ^ Latham, John (1783). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 2, Part 2. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 403.
  6. ^ Pennant, Thomas (1785). Arctic Zoology. Vol. 2. London: Printed by Henry Hughs. p. 397.
  7. .
  8. .
  9. . IOC World Bird List Version 13.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  10. .
  11. .
  12. .
  13. ^ a b Wiles, G.; Worthington, D.; Beck, R.; Pratt, D.; Aguon, C.; Pyle, R. (2000). "Noteworthy bird records for Micronesia, with a summary of raptor sightings in the Mariana Islands, 1988-1999". Micronesica. 32: 257–284.
  14. ^ Vanderwerf, E.; Wiles, G.; Marshall, A.; Knecht, M. (2006). "Observations of migrants and other birds in Palau, April-May 2005, including the first Micronesian record of a Richard's Pipit". Micronesica. 39: 11–29.
  15. ^ Khokhlova, I. G.; Cimbaluk, A. K. (1971). "Acanthocephala of the genus Apororhynchus Shipley, 1899 and a description of A. paulonucleatus n.sp". KOLOS: 426–431.

Further reading

  • Fraker MA & Fraker RN. (1980). Yellow Wagtail Motacilla-Flava East of the Mackenzie Delta Canada. Canadian Field-Naturalist. vol 94, no 4. p. 465-466.
  • Hunt J & Standring I. (1995). A yellow wagtail Motacilla flava at Lake Mclarty. Western Australian Naturalist. vol 20, no 2. p. 61-64.
  • Johnstone RE. (1982). The Yellow Wagtail Motacilla-Flava in Australia. Western Australian Naturalist. vol 15, no 3. p. 61-66.
  • Moffatt JD. (1981). Yellow Wagtail Motacilla-Flava on Heron Island Queensland Australia with Notes on the Status of Southern Individuals. Emu. vol 81, no 1. p. 47-48.