Pied Wagtail (Winter) © Sue Tranter

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).

Thought to form a superspecies with White Wagtail (Motacilla alba), White-browed Wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis), Japanese Wagtail (Motacilla grandis) and Mekong Wagtail (Motacilla samveasnae). However, recent analyses of mitochondrial DNA, suggest that it is possibly more distantly related to this group, and may be a sister-taxon to a group containing White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) (with subspecies lugens), Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava), Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) and Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea).

Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of White Wagtail (Motacilla alba).


References
See References.

The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7


Files:

BirdLife International For more information about the Pied Wagtail see... BirdLife International Species Factsheet. Articles about the Pied Wagtail If you would like to read any articles about the Pied Wagtail... Show Articles (0) No Pictures of Pied Wagtail If Birdpedia has no pictures of Pied Wagtail or you would like to see more, then try the following...       From BING (2) No Videos of Pied Wagtail If Birdpedia has no videos of Pied Wagtail or you would like to see more, then try the following..       From BING (0)