Mamula wagtail
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Mamula wagtail ( Motacilla maderaspatensis ) |
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| Motacilla maderaspatensis | ||||||||||||
| Gmelin , 1789 |
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The Mamula wagtail ( Motacilla maderaspatensis , syn .: Motacilla madaraspatensis ) is a songbird species from the family of stilts and pipiters , which inhabits large parts of the Indian subcontinent , where it occurs mainly in open areas near bodies of water, but also in village settlements and gardens. The species is quite common and is classified as not threatened by the IUCN .
description
At 21–24 cm, the mamula wagtail is significantly larger than a wagtail , although the wing length of 90 to 102 mm and the tail length of 92 to 107 mm do not differ too much from the latter species. As with the Japanese wagtail , the two outer pairs of control springs are slightly shorter than the middle ones . The two species are very similar in general. Legs, feet and the scabbard, which is about 18–21 mm long, are blackish in color. The iris is brown. The sexual dimorphism is only slightly pronounced, some females cannot be distinguished from males. The species is monotypical .
In adult males, the upper side is mostly jet black. A very broad, white over-eye stripe stands out from this, which earned the species its English name "White-browed Wagtail". In contrast to the Japanese wagtail, the forehead is black. There is a narrow, white half-ring under the eye. The black of the chin and throat extends as a round shield up to the chest, to the side of it the white of the underside is drawn up to the shoulders. The flanks are covered in gray, but this is often not visible in the field because it is covered by the wings. When folded, the wings appear completely white, except for black shoulder feathers, edge coverts and umbrella feathers , since the upper wing coverts are mostly black only at the base and have wide, white edges and tips. The aluminum feathers are blackish with sometimes narrow white seams, the black-brown hand covers are narrowly lined with whitish. The predominantly black-brown hand wings have white tips and the outer five also have white hems on the outer flags. The blackish arm wings are broadly lined with white on the outer flag. In addition, the wings show a lot of white on the basal parts of the inner plumes, but this is generally hidden by the upper wing coverts. The umbrella springs have narrow white hems. The under wing coverts are white. The middle four pairs of control springs are black, the two outer pairs are white.
Some females are indistinguishable from males, others are lighter on the head and back to a medium gray. In these individuals, the face area is black and slowly turns into the gray of the crown and neck. The wing plumage is then partly lightened and looks more brown.
Birds in juvenile dress are gray-brown on top, the stripe above the eyes is less pronounced and dirty white. In the wing, the white hems of the upper wing covers are narrower, the umbrella feathers are lined with gray.
voice
The chant is often a simple, often repeated phrase like chi-chi-chi-chuh or chi-chi-chi-churr . Most of the time, however, it is more complex and consists of 2–4 second long stanzas of rough, high-pitched, melodic and trilling notes, which are strung together with short pauses. This shape is very variable and is not infrequently reminiscent of the singing of other songbirds such as tree pipit , goldfinch or wren . Sometimes obvious imitations are also woven in.
The call is a loud twie or tschiet or a more metallic tzwienk . Often it is repeated a second time more quietly and during the departure a quieter, polysyllabic phrase or series of calls like titu-wi or chu-wi follows . The alarm call has not yet been described.
Spreading and migrations
The distribution of the mamula wagtail is largely limited to the Indian subcontinent, and there is only some evidence from Yunnan . It occurs in northern Pakistan , Nepal and Bhutan as well as in India , where it is absent in the extreme northwest and west as well as in the extreme northeast. There are scattered occurrences in northwestern Bangladesh . The species is largely resident , but there are occasional winter observations from Sri Lanka .
habitat
The mamula wagtail is much more tied to water than the white wagtail and is rarely found in open land areas far away from the water. Their preferred habitat are rivers, sandbanks and embankments, but they also breed on canals, ponds and lakes, as well as on sewage fields and irrigation systems. The species can also sometimes be found in village settlements and gardens - especially if there are watering points there. The altitude distribution usually extends up to about 900 m, in higher altitudes the species seems to be found much less often, although there is evidence up to an altitude of 2200 m.
literature
- Per Alström, Krister Mild: Pipits and Wagtails of Europe, Asia and North America , Christopher Helm, London 2003, ISBN 0-7136-5834-7
- Sálim Ali, Dillon Ripley: Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan . Delhi 1987, Vol. IX, p. 296ff
Web links
- Motacilla maderaspatensis in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Retrieved on February 10 2011th
- Motacilla maderaspatensis videos, photos, and sound recordings in the Internet Bird Collection , accessed February 10, 2011