wagtail
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Male of the white wagtail ( Motacilla alba ) in breeding plumage |
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| Motacilla alba | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
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The white wagtail ( Motacilla alba ), also Wippstiärtken in Westphalian, Wippsteert in northern Lower Saxony , Wibbelstetzje in the Cologne area , Akkermāntje or Baumāntje in East Frisia is a songbird species from the family of stilts and pipiters . It stands out due to its high-contrast, black-white-gray plumage and the stilt-typical rocker tail. The characteristic call is a high, metallic jivid .
The extensive distribution area extends from south-east Greenland through the entire Palearctic to the Bering Strait and into the extreme west of Alaska. In the north it extends beyond the Arctic Circle , in the south into the subtropics . In Central Europe , the wagtail is a widespread and frequent breeding bird. Originally, it was mainly tied to ungrown bank areas and bodies of water, but today it can be found everywhere in the open and semi-open cultural landscape where there are suitable nesting opportunities and free ground areas for foraging. The species breeds in niches and half-caves and feeds almost exclusively on insects and other arthropods .
In winter, wagtails mostly migrate south, with the length of the migration routes varying greatly. Central European wagtails overwinter mainly in southwest Europe and North Africa, the wintering areas of other populations sometimes extend as far as the equator. However, individual birds also stay in central or northern Europe during the winter.
description
The white wagtail is a slender, long-legged songbird with a long tail that is constantly bobbing about. The tail accounts for about 9 cm of the 16.5–19 cm body length. The weight is around 25 g. The beak, like legs and feet, is black; in its plain dress it shows a horn-colored base.
Brood plumage
In the male of the nominate form , the forehead is white except for the middle parting, as is a section above behind the eye, the sides of the head and the neck. The back of the head and neck, like the chin, throat and front chest, are glossy black and are usually neatly delimited against the white parts of the face and the gray back. The rump is slate to black-gray, as are the upper tail-coverts, of which the sides on the outer flag are lined with white. The gray of the shoulder feathers merges into the pure white of the underside on the sides of the chest and the flanks. The under tail-coverts are also white. The tail is glossy black and shows, since the two outer pairs of feathers are only black at the base and inner vane, wide, white outer edges, which are particularly noticeable when the bird flies up. In addition, the middle pair of control springs has a narrow white border. The wing plumage is black-brown and has white to light gray edges. Like the hand covers and the wing, the wings are finely lined with white. On the arm wings, the outer edges become wider towards the shield springs and take up a large part of the outer vane on the latter. Here they are dirty white to light gray. The large arm covers are also lined, the inner ones have an extensive white stepped point. The middle arm covers show a wide lace hem. The under wing coverts are dirty white.
The female resembles the male in breeding dress, but the white parts of the face are usually not so clearly set off from the black and sometimes mottled gray. The black color of the neck merges with the gray of the back and is not sharply defined as in the male. In addition, the wing plumage is usually not as brightly lined as in the male. In some females, the head markings can be exactly the same or similar to that of the male.
Plain dress
In their simple dress , the adult birds lack the black areas on their heads. They are limited to a crescent-shaped band on the chest and a partially distinct cheek patch. The forehead is dirty white to gray. The head, neck, ear covers and cheeks are gray. The area of the face may have a yellowish tone. The rest of the plumage corresponds to the brood dress. The male differs from the female only in the darker vertex interspersed with black feathers.
Youth dress
In the youth dress, the upper side is predominantly gray, the back a bit lighter, the top of the head and neck a bit more brownish. At the top behind the eye is an over-eye stripe, which, like the sides of the neck, the chin and the throat, are dirty white. The ear covers are dark dirty yellow. A crescent-shaped chest band and a chin stripe extending from it are brown-black to yellow-brown. The sides of the chest are gray, the underside white. Wing and tail plumage are similar to adult clothes, but fade quickly and then show only slight contrasts between centers and edges.
voice
The typical call of the wagtail that is most frequently expressed is a high and conspicuous zi-lipp or dschi-witt , which can also be used as a three-syllable tsi-di-litt . It can have several functions and characteristics. It is performed by territorial males both during the breeding season and in the winter quarters from waiting areas and then replaces a territorial song. It can be heard as a voice feel and contact call when flying up or landing, in flight or as a feeding call. It then often has a less soft expression and can also be reduced to a monosyllabic zig or zlipp . As an alarm or excitement call , it is similar to the call of the gray wagtail , is then higher and sharper and is described as zississ . In the vicinity of the nest and from couples you can hear a number of other variations such as zlid , psijip or plim . During the courtship, various tender and quiet calls and series of calls have been observed.
A kind of chirping song can be heard when excited, as a soft courtship song between the calls for the district or on the train. It often only consists of short stanzas, but it can also be persistent and often arises from the vocal feeling sound, which is woven in again and again in various modulations. There are also imitations of other bird species. Singing activity is probably very different from person to person. Singing and calls can be heard all year round.
behavior
The wagtail moves like all stilts on the ground, striding or walking. The stride, in which the steps are far reaching, is accompanied by rhythmic head movements and a flat tail rocking. With rapid movements, after landing, stopping while running or when picking up food, the tail bobbing is more violent. It is omitted before take-off or during a rapid transition from landing to ongoing locomotion. The flight takes place in pronounced arching up and down movements, the speed is around 30-40 km / h.
distribution
The transpalearctic distribution area of the white wagtail extends from south-east Greenland to the Bering Strait and beyond it a little way into the Nearctic , where there are occurrences in the extreme west of Alaska . In the north it extends beyond the Arctic Circle to about 75 ° N. The southern border in Europe is the Mediterranean, on the African continent there are only breeding occurrences in western Morocco . In Asia, the distribution extends southwards into the mountainous regions of Iran and northern Afghanistan, into the Himalayan region and in southwestern China to around 35 ° N. There are larger gaps in the arid regions of Central Asia, such as the Karakum and Kysylkum deserts , the Kazakh steppe and the Tarim Basin and in the highlands of Tibet .
Geographical variation
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The geographical variation is quite pronounced, eleven subspecies are recognized. The head pattern of the males in the breeding dress, which is usually composed of clearly separated black, white and gray areas, as well as the color of the top, varies. Based on these characteristics, three large groups can be distinguished. The subspecies of the western Alba group show - with the exception of the subspecies M. a. yarellii - a gray back and a matching head pattern. The Far Eastern lugens group shows a black back and different head patterns. A Central Asian group mediates between the two above. All subspecies of this group show a gray back and all three head patterns of the lugens group.
In the subspecies M. a. yarellii is believed to have developed the black back independently of the Far Eastern forms. The North African subspecies M. a. subpersonata differs strongly from all other subspecies with its head markings and conveys this characteristic to the closely related widow wagtail ( Motacilla aguimp ), which occurs in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa .
In the contact zones of the individual subspecies, mixed populations have sometimes formed, but these are usually only very weak or the transitions are abrupt, so that, for example, the subspecies M. a. personata and M. a. lugens is granted species status by some authors. M. a. persica , on the other hand, is a very variable form, which is therefore sometimes only viewed as a transitional population.
alba group
- M. a. alba Linnaeus , 1758 - Southeast Greenland, Iceland , Faroe Islands and continental Europe eastwards to Asia Minor and the Urals, evidence of breeding from Great Britain and Ireland
- M. a. yarrellii Gould , 1837 (Black Wagtail) - Great Britain and Ireland, possibly also Northern Western Europe
- M. a. dukhunensis Sykes , 1832 - from the Urals eastwards to the Taimyr Peninsula , southwards to the Caucasus , northwestern Iran , the steppes of Kyrgyzstan and to the foot of the Altai
- M. a. subpersonata Meade-Waldo , 1901 - western Morocco
Intermediate group
- M. a. ocularis Swinhoe , 1860 - northern and eastern Siberia and western Alaska
- M. a. persica Blanford , 1876 - southern Elbursgebirge and Zagros Mountains in Iran
- M. a. personata Gould , 1861 - from the Caspian Sea and northern Iran eastwards to the Sajan Mountains, to western Mongolia and northwestern and western Xinjiang, and southwards to northern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and Kashmir
- M. a. baicalensis Swinhoe , 1871 - southern central Siberia from the upper reaches of the Yenisei eastward to the Stanovoi Mountains and southward to Mongolia and Inner Mongolia
lugens group
- M. a. lugens Gloger , 1829 - from the south coast of the Sea of Okhotsk via Sakhalin , central Kamchatka and the commanders' islands south to northern Korea and Japan
- M. a. leucopsis Gould , 1838 - from Qinghai east to Heilongjiang , Russian Far East and west of Zhejiang , south to north of Guangxi and Guangdong , Korea, south-west of Honshū and north of Kyushu
- M. a. alboides Hodgson , 1836 - Himalayan region eastward from northeastern Pakistan, southern Xizang, south and southeastern Qinghai and eastward to south Shaanxi, Yunnan and Guizhou, northern Myanmar, extreme north of Laos and Vietnam
Systematics
Some authors the two subspecies of are African Pied Wagtail ( Motacilla aguimp ), the white-browed wagtail ( Motacilla maderaspatensis ) and the Japanese Wagtail ( Motacilla grandis ) regarded as subspecies of the wagtail.
hikes
Most wagtails migrate to warmer areas in the winter months, but the distances that are covered vary greatly. The Moroccan subspecies M. p. subpersonata , this population consists of pure resident birds .
White wagtails from Central Europe winter in an area that stretches from southwestern Europe to Morocco and Algeria . The migration begins at the beginning of September, reaches its peak in mid-October and subsides in the first half of November. White wagtails move quite close to the ground and adhere closely to geographical guidelines. They migrate on the autumn migration mainly during the day, in spring also at night. They socialize, often in larger swarms when there is a rich local food supply and where they sleep. During the day they rest as well as in the winter quarters, but often territorially. Territories are occupied by solitary birds or by pairs. The homecoming begins in February. Most of the birds arrive in the breeding areas in the second and third decades of March, and migration is complete by mid-April.
The subspecies of the British Isles, M. a. yarellii , only partially migrates and only the northern Scottish birds completely clear their breeding areas. The wintering areas extend from southern Scotland through western France to southern Spain and, exceptionally, to northern Africa. From the nominate form M. a. Alba only a few birds overwinter in Western Europe, which is influenced by the Atlantic, north of the 1 ° C January isotherm there are only a few attempts to overwinter. The actual wintering area begins south of the Gironde , extends from the Mediterranean region southwards across North Africa, the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula , where numerous birds winter in oases. Some migrate further south and solitary birds can be found up to about 3 ° N in clearings in the rainforest belt, and in the East African savannah even up to the equator . There are two main directions of movement. Most of the western and central European populations migrate in a south-westerly direction and winter in the western Mediterranean and western Africa, while the birds of northern and eastern Europe tend to migrate to the southeast and winter in the eastern Mediterranean, eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The Zugscheide runs roughly through Denmark and Poland as well as south through Eastern Europe. Another pulling sheath is located in eastern Russia and separates the subspecies M. a. alba and M. a. dukhunensis . The overwintering areas of the Asian subspecies, which mainly overlap in South Asia, extend from the Zagros Mountains and the Persian Gulf eastward across the Indian subcontinent south of the Himalayas, China south of the Yangtze River and parts of Japan. In the south they reach to Sri Lanka and over Indochina to the north of Borneo .
habitat
The wagtail inhabits semi-open and open landscapes and occurs practically everywhere except in closed forest areas and densely built-up city centers. Ungrown or short-grass ground areas that are needed for foraging and the same surrounding, higher structures such as buildings or groups of trees that have suitable niches as nesting areas are important. Locations close to water bodies are preferred - the primary habitat is likely to be muddy, sandy, gravelly or stony banks, which are particularly common in large river landscapes. Today the cultural landscape offers corresponding areas on a large scale, such as pastures, fields, farm roads, asphalted areas, construction and gravel pits or open fallow and ruderal areas . The wagtail is particularly common in the vicinity of farming villages, where there is also a wide range of nesting opportunities. In the mountains, the species still occurs well above the tree line at heights of up to 3000 m.
Outside the breeding season, wagtails can be found mainly in all types of water, but also on plowed fields. Common sleeping places are mostly on water areas in reed beds or willow bushes, but also in other protected places. Birds that hibernate in northern latitudes, in particular, like to go to brightly lit places at night in urban and residential areas that have a warmer microclimate . In the North African winter quarters, the wagtail is found on the coast, on bodies of water, salt marshes, near settlements and in the desert at oases, wells and nomad camps.
food
The wagtail looks for its food mainly in open, little overgrown or short-grassed areas on the ground. These can be bank areas, places near settlements and bodies of water, roads and paths, fields or hay meadows. Only exposed food is picked up. Insects are often caught in flight from the ground or from waiting, sometimes also from shaking flight. The species likes to stay near grazing animals, where it finds a rich food supply on dung heaps or when the animals are startled.
The wagtail's diet consists for the most part of insects , mainly small dipteras such as mosquitoes and flies, which can be swallowed easily. Caddis flies and beetles also make up a large proportion of the population . The spectrum is very extensive and includes many other groups of insects as well as other arthropods and snails . Presumably in an exceptional case, a wagtail was seen catching three to five centimeters long fry. Plant components are seldom ingested, for example berries are picked or seeds are eaten. But even in northern latitudes wintering wagtails try to get animal food whenever possible. For example, they prey on flea crabs or overwintering insects in cattle sheds on the banks of the stream .
Reproduction
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White wagtails become sexually mature at the end of their first year of life, but apparently not all females brood in the first year. The species leads a monogamous seasonal marriage, in exceptional cases polygyny has been proven. Second broods are the rule in southern and central Europe. If both are timely and successful, a third brood can occur. White wagtails in the far north only brood once a year, the breeding beginning here is partly in June. In rare cases there are mixed broods with the gray wagtail .
Arrival and establishment of the territory
In Central Europe, migrating wagtails usually arrive around mid-March, the males arrive 10-14 days before the females. After the establishment of the territory by the males, the arrival of older females follows, the one-year-olds return a little later. The breeding site loyalty is quite high and annual wagtails usually settle within 10 km of the place of birth.
The male expresses his territorial claim by conspicuous jivid calls from elevated waiting areas and vehemently drives off intruders, as in some cases other songbird species. Especially at district boundaries, which often consist of structural features such as building edges, rivals pursue flights and sometimes protracted battles. Females are also often attacked and driven away at first if they do not reveal themselves through appeasement gestures.
Courtship
The courtship takes place on the ground. The first phase is used to identify partners and reduce the individual distance . It turns out quite differently in the male, the female usually shows no or only minor reactions in this phase. The male runs in a zigzag course towards the female or around it and makes nodding movements with fluffed plumage, in which the vertex and throat patch are presented alternately. It expresses a hard, metallic sticknick . Sometimes chase flights also occur. Sometimes the wings are spread like a shield, sometimes just one wing and the tail are fanned out and pressed to the ground. During the zigzag run, the latter is then presented to the female at the side. In the later phase of mating courtship, the female adopts a squat, ready-to-mate posture, in which it lowers the protruding head, lets the wings hang down and the tail stands up. There are soft zizizizi calls from themselves. The behavior of the male varies greatly from person to person in this phase as well, but is made up of all of the behavior patterns described above. Finally, it performs a few fluttering air jumps and then performs the copula .
Nest building
After mating, both sexes look for a suitable nesting place, the female seems to have the initiative and probably makes the final decision. After a day or two, construction will begin. In some cases it was observed that several nests were started but only one was completed.
The nest is built in half caves or niches that offer a good view of the surroundings. In the cultural landscape, nest locations predominate in artificial structures such as wall niches, beams, thatched or tile roofs, window sills, climbing plants, piles of wood and brushwood or artificial nesting aids. Such locations are apparently preferred, as they are usually occupied first by the older females who arrive earlier, while the younger ones have to resort to the other nesting options, which are often natural features such as embankments, rock niches, ditch edges, piles of alluvial debris, tree hollows or grass bulbs . In some cases, soil nests are then also built in open areas. Free-standing nests in bushes or trees are the exception. It is not uncommon for nests from the previous year to be used again or for old nests of other birds such as swallow nests to be occupied or built over. Nests in artificial conditions are usually several meters above the ground, while those on natural structures are usually close to the ground.
The nest consists of a substructure made of coarse material, which often gives the nest a messy appearance, and a finer, cup-shaped interior with a soft lining. The substructure can vary in size or be missing in narrow niches. It consists of coarse parts of plants such as reeds and blades of grass, dry leaves, straw, twigs or pieces of bark. The finer interior consists of delicate stalks, moss and roots or reeds. The lining consists of small feathers, plant wool or animal hair. The size of the nest is very variable, nests in natural locations are often much larger. The external dimensions are between 115 and 320 mm in diameter and 45–90 mm in height. The trough is between 50 and 65 mm wide and 20-45 mm deep.
The nest building takes between 4 and 7 days, in bad weather or disturbances up to two weeks. Usually the female builds the nest, but the male also participates to varying degrees in nest building. In some cases the male built his own nest in parallel, but this was not completed - the fine interior is always built by the female alone.
Clutch and incubation
Eggs are laid every 24 hours, usually half an hour after sunrise. Laying begins in Central Europe in the first decade of April at the earliest, but usually later in the same month. The clutch usually consists of five to six, more rarely three to seven eggs, larger clutches probably always come from two females. The eggs are oval, matt-glossy and speckled finely gray-brown to dark gray-brown on a light gray to whitish background. They are on average 20 × 15 mm in size and are incubated for eleven days if the breeding process is undisturbed. Under unfavorable circumstances, the incubation period can be up to 17 days. The male is involved up to a quarter of the time, and the female always breeds at night.
Rearing boys
The young birds usually hatch within twelve hours, in rarer cases this process takes up to 40 hours. The nestling period usually lasts between 13 and 14 days. The nestlings are fed largely in equal proportions by both adult birds. During the first few days in which the female is roasting , the male carries the greater part, but towards the end of the nestling period his feeding activity decreases significantly. After the fledgling, the young birds are fed for 4–7 days, less often for up to 11 days.
Mortality and Age
Mortality in the first year is quite high. Of 134 ringed birds, 65% were found dead in the first six months and 15% in the following six months. Most birds perish on the move, due to physical exhaustion or hunting. In the breeding areas, predation of breeding adult birds by domestic cats, foxes or martens, but above all collisions with motor vehicles on country roads, are among the causes of death. White wagtails that overwinter in northern latitudes sometimes fall victim to periods of bad weather. According to various evaluations of ring finds, the average age was between seven and 14 months. The maximum age in freedom can be up to ten years, in captivity a bird lived to be twelve years old.
Duration
In Europe there are only major falls in stocks after extreme winters. Otherwise, rather minor and short-term fluctuations in the stock can be observed without showing any significant national trends. Local stock fluctuations usually occur in connection with a change in agricultural use and construction activities.
supporting documents
literature
- Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim , Kurt M. Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe (HBV). Volume 10 / II, Passeriformes (1st part), Motacillidae - Prunellidae, AULA-Verlag, 1985/2001, ISBN 3-923527-00-4
- Helmut Ölschlegel: The Wagtail , Die neue Brehm-Bücherei, A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg Lutherstadt 1985, ( ISBN 3-89432-359-0 , unchanged new edition from 2005)
- J. Hölzinger (Ed.): Die Vögel Baden-Württemberg , Vol. 3.1 Singvögel, Verlag Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co., Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8001-3493-4
- J. Alonso, I. Henderson, F. Purroy: White Wagtail (Motacilla Alba) in WJM Hagemeijer, MJ Blair: The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds - their distribution and abundance , T & AD Poyser, London 1997, ISBN 0-85661 -091-7 , pp. 498-499
- Hans-Günther Bauer, Einhard Bezzel and Wolfgang Fiedler (eds.): The compendium of birds in Central Europe: Everything about biology, endangerment and protection. Volume 2: Passeriformes - passerine birds. Aula-Verlag Wiebelsheim, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89104-648-0 .
Single receipts
- ↑ Weigelt, Holger: ōstfräisk plat - düütsk, 2010
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 882, p. literature
- ↑ a b c d Glutz v. Blotzheim, pp. 883 f., S. literature
- ↑ a b c Ölschlegel, p. 72, s. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 788, p. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 25, s. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 247 f. as well as Ölschlegel, p. 11 f., s. literature
- ↑ a b c Glutz v. Blotzheim, pp. 889 f., S. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 901, p. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 137 f., S. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 13 f., S. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 893, p. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 52, s. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 893 and Ölschlegel, p. 53, s. literature
- ↑ EBCC Atlas, s. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, pp. 893 f., S. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 906 f. and Ölschlegel, p. 120 f., s. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 125, s. literature
- ↑ a b Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 895, p. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 108, s. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 115 f., S. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 107 f., S. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel p. 77 f. as well as Glutz v. Blotzheim, pp. 909 f., S. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 86 f. as well as Glutz v. Blotzheim, pp. 897 f., S. literature
- ↑ a b Ölschlegel, p. 88, s. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 93, s. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 100 f., S. literature
- ↑ Ölschlegel, p. 107, s. literature
- ↑ Glutz v. Blotzheim, p. 900 f. and Ölschlegel, p. 168 f., s. literature
- ↑ Bauer et al., P. 502
Web links
- Motacilla alba in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 18 of 2008.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Motacilla alba in the Internet Bird Collection
- Gender and age characteristics (PDF; 4.9 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta and Gerd-Michael Heinze (English, accessed on November 5, 2010)
- Entry at the Swiss Ornithological Institute
- Wagtail feathers