Other Names (World)
White Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, British Wagtail, Moroccan Pied Wagtail, Moroccan Wagtail, Siberian White Wagtail, Indian White Wagtail, Transbaikalian White Wagtail, Swinhoe's Pied Wagtail, Eye-striped White Wagtail, Spectacled White Wagtail, Streak-eyed Pied Wagtail, White-faced Pied Wagtail, Chinese White Wagtail, Hodgson's Wagtail, Masked Wagtail, Turkestan Wagtail
Afghanistan (B) (NB), Albania (B), Algeria, Andorra (B) (NB), Armenia (B), Austria (B) (NB), Azerbaijan (B) (NB), Bahrain (NB) (P), Bangladesh, Belarus (B), Belgium (B) (NB), Benin (NB), Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Bulgaria (B) (NB), Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China (mainland) (B), Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B) (NB), Cyprus (B) (NB), Czech Republic (B) (NB), Denmark (B) (P), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia (B) (NB), Ethiopia, Faroe Islands (B), Finland (B) (P), France (B) (NB) (P), Gambia, Georgia (B), Germany (B) (NB) (P), Ghana (B), Gibraltar (NB), Greece (B) (NB) (P), Greenland (B), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Hong Kong (China), Hungary (B), Iceland (B), India (B), Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B), Iraq (NB) (P), Ireland (B) (NB), Israel, Italy (B) (NB), Japan (B), Jordan (NB) (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan (B) (P), Laos, Latvia (B) (NB), Lebanon (B), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein (B) (NB), Lithuania (B) (NB), Luxembourg (B) (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Malaysia, Mali, Malta (NB), Mauritania, Mexico, Republic of Moldova (B) (NB), Mongolia (B), Montenegro (B), Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal (B), Netherlands (B) (NB), Niger, Nigeria, North Korea (B), Norway (B), Oman, Pakistan (B), Palestinian Authority Territories (NB), Philippines, Poland (B) (NB), Portugal (B) (NB), Qatar, Romania (B) (NB), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B), San Marino (B) (NB), Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia (B), Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (B) (NB), Slovenia (B) (NB), Somalia, South Korea (B), Spain (B) (NB), Sri Lanka, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (B), Sweden (B) (NB) (P), Switzerland (B) (NB), Syrian Arab Republic (B), Taiwan (China) (B), Tajikistan (B), Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey (B) (NB), Turkmenistan (B), Uganda, Ukraine (B) (NB) (P), United Arab Emirates (NB), United Kingdom (B) (NB), USA (B), Uzbekistan (B), Vietnam, Western Sahara (NB), Yemen.
Vagrant to Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Canada, Comoros, Gabon, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Seychelles, St Pierre and Miquelon, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Trinidad and Tobago.
Breeds from Britain to eastern Asia, Japan, Alaska, migrating to Africa, southern and south-eastern Asia, Borneo, Philippines. Scarce visitor to coastal Australia.
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) [XC795253]
by Stanislas Wroza from Arrondissement de Montpellier (near S\u00e8te), H\u00e9rault, Occitanie, Sweden (flight call)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) [XC711187]
by Ray Tsu \u8bf8\u4ec1 from Estu\u00e1rio do \u00c2ncora, Caminha, Viana do Castelo, China (flight call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds from Britain to eastern Asia, Japan, Alaska.
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Nest
A structure composed of grass and moss, in holes in walls, banks and buildings.
Subspecies
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) and Black-backed Wagtail (Motacilla lugens) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Motacilla alba following AOU (2005). Motacilla alba (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) was split by Sangster et al. (1998) into White Wagtail (Motacilla alba), Himalayan Wagtail (Motacilla alboides), Baikal Wagtail (Motacilla baicalensis), Amur Wagtail (Motacilla leucopsis), East Siberian Wagtail (Motacilla ocularis), Masked Wagtail (Motacilla personata) and Moroccan Wagtail (Motacilla subpersonata) but this treatment is not followed by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group because no vocal, morphological or phylogenetic evidence is provided by Sangster et al. (1998) and Alström et al. (2003) notes that all contiguously distributed subspecies of White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) interbreed. Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) and Sangster et al. (1998) also split Afghan Snowfinch (Pyrgilauda theresae) from White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) but these taxa are also lumped following AOU (2005).
Subspecies possibly intergrade where their breeding ranges overlap.
The following 11 subspecies are recognised:
alba Linnaeus, 1758 - Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to Ural Mountains, Turkey, the Levant, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland's east coast. Some migrate to the south of Europe and Africa down as far as Kenya and Malawi.
yarrellii Gould, 1837 - Great Britain and Ireland, birds in the northern part of the range winter in Spain and North Africa, those further south are resident. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Pied Wagtail (Motacilla yarrellii).
dukhunensis Sykes, 1832 - West Siberian Plain - east Caspian Sea (part of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan), winters in the Middle East and India.
persica Blanford, 1876 - North central and western Iran.
subpersonata Meade-Waldo, 1901 - Non-migratory resident of Morocco. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Moroccan Wagtail (Motacilla subpersonata).
personata Gould, 1861 - Hindu Kush, Tian Shan, Altay Mountains. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Masked Wagtail (Motacilla personata).
alboides Hodgson, 1836 - Himalayas and surrounding area. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Himalayan Wagtail (Motacilla alboides).
baicalensis Swinhoe, 1871 - Breeds southern-central and southern Siberia, east to Stanovoy Ranges, south to central Mongolia and far north-eastern China, winters south to south-eastern Asia from northern India, Bangledesh, northern Burma, northern Thailand and southern China, p. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Baikal Wagtail (Motacilla baicalensis).
ocularis Swinhoe, 1860 - Breeds northern-central and eastern Siberia east to northern coasts of Sea of Oktotsk, northern Kamchatka Peninsula, Chukotsky Peninsula and across Bering Straits to western Alaska, winters south to eastern and south-eastern Asia, including southern. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, East Siberian Wagtail (Motacilla ocularis).
lugens Gloger, 1829 - Russia Far East (Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai), Kamchatka Peninsula, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Japan (Hokkaidô, Honshû). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Black-backed Wagtail (Motacilla lugens).
leucopsis Gould, 1838 - Breeds middle Amur Basin, south-eastern Russia, south through Ussuriland, northern-central, north-eastern and eastern China and Korea to south-western Japan and taiwan, winters south to eastern and south-eastern Asia, including southern China, most o. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Amur Wagtail (Motacilla leucopsis).
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet