The eastern yellow wagtail (''Motacilla tschutschensis'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

in the

wagtail Wagtails are a group of passerine birds that form the genus ''Motacilla'' in the family Motacillidae. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus ''Dendronanthus'' which is closely related to ''Motacilla'' and sometimes included therein. ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Motacillidae The wagtails, longclaws, and pipits are a family, Motacillidae, of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Around 70 species occur in five genera. The longclaws are entirely restricted to the Afrotropics, and the wagtails are predomin ...

, which also includes the

pipit The pipits are a cosmopolitan genus, ''Anthus'', of small passerine birds with medium to long tails. Along with the wagtails and longclaws, the pipits make up the family Motacillidae. The genus is widespread, occurring across most of the world, ...

s and

longclaw The longclaws are a genus, ''Macronyx'', of small African passerine birds in the family Motacillidae. Longclaws are slender, often colorful, ground-feeding insectivores of open country. They are ground nesters, laying up to four speckled eggs. T ...

s. It was often classified as a subspecies of the Western yellow wagtail. This species breeds in the East Palearctic and has a foothold in North America in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. Populations migrate to south Asia and Australia. Vagrant individuals occur around the winter quarters at migration time. For example, on

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

migrant flocks of this species – apparently of the Bering Sea yellow wagtail, and including many adult males – are regularly seen, while further north on the Marianas, only the occasional stray individual – usually females or immatures as it seems – is encountered. 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''. This insectivorous

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

inhabits open country near water, such as

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of wetland. Wet prairies and wet savannas are hyd ...

s. It nests in tussocks, laying 4–8 speckled eggs. The

Acanthocephala Acanthocephala (Greek , ', thorn + , ', head) is a phylum of parasitic worms known as acanthocephalans, thorny-headed worms, or spiny-headed worms, characterized by the presence of an eversible proboscis, armed with spines, which it uses to p ...

n parasite '' Apororhynchus paulonucleatus'' was discovered in the colon and cloaca of the Eastern yellow wagtail.

Systematics

This species' systematics and

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...

is extremely confusing. Literally dozens of subspecies have been described at one time or another, and 5 are currently considered valid depending on which author reviews them. In addition, the citrine wagtail (''M. citreola'') forms a

cryptic species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

with this bird; both taxa as conventionally delimited are paraphyletic in respect to each other. In addition, some taxonomic authorities continue to keep the eastern and

western yellow wagtail The western yellow wagtail (''Motacilla flava'') is a small passerine in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of temperate Europe and Asia. It is resident in the milder parts ...

s together as yellow wagtail, (''M. flava''). Current subspecies: *''M. t. angarensis'' (Sushkin, 1925) – South Siberian yellow wagtail. :Males like ''M. flava plexa'', but supercilium more pronounced. :Breeding: From S Siberia S through W

Transbaikalia Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe and ...

to N

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. Winter: SE Asia. *''M. t. leucocephala'' (Przevalski, 1887) – White-headed yellow wagtail. :Male like ''M. f. flava'', but grey of head very pale, almost white. Female like ''flava'' females, but head somewhat darker. :Breeding: NW Mongolia and adjacent

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and Russia. Winter: probably India. *''M. t. taivana'' (Swinhoe, 1863) – Green-crowned yellow wagtail or Kuril yellow wagtail. :Like ''M. f. flavissima'' but daker above, ears much darker, almost black. Sexes similar. :Breeding: between ranges of ''plexa'' and ''tschutschensis'' S via

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

to N Hokkaidō. Winter:

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, S to

Wallacea Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated by deep-water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as ...

. *''M. t. macronyx'' (Stresemann, 1920) – Southeast Siberian yellow wagtail. :Males like ''M. f. thunbergi'' but brighter and more strongly marked overall. Female like in ''thunbergi'' but no supercilium. :Breeding: SE Transbaikalia E to coast, S to

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer M ...

. Winter: NW of South China Sea. *''M. t. simillima'' Hartert, 1905 – Bering Sea yellow wagtail or short-tailed grey-headed wagtail. :Both sexes similar to corresponding ''M. f. flava'', but supercilium usually less pronounced. :Breeding:

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...

and Bering Sea islands, possibly to

Aleuts The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...

. Winter: SE Asia S to N Australia.

Footnotes

References

* VanderWerf, Eric A.; Wiles, Gary J.; Marshall, Ann P. & Knecht, Melia (2006). Observations of migrants and other birds in Palau, April–May 2005, including the first Micronesian record of a Richard's Pipit. ''Micronesica'' 39(1): 11–29
PDF fulltext
* Wiles, Gary J.; Worthington, David J.; Beck, Robert E. Jr.; Pratt, H. Douglas; Aguon, Celestino F. & Pyle, Robert L. (2000). Noteworthy Bird Records for Micronesia, with a Summary of Raptor Sightings in the Mariana Islands, 1988–1999. ''Micronesica'' 32(2): 257–284
PDF fulltext

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4810698 eastern yellow wagtail Native birds of Alaska Birds of North Asia Birds of Manchuria eastern yellow wagtail eastern yellow wagtail

Systematics

Footnotes

References

Further reading

Books

Articles

External links