Pied and white wagtails

[colonelboris]

Just how closely related are pied and white wagtails and how often do they interbreed?
Cheers,

Tony

[Chris Benesh]

Just how closely related are pied and white wagtails and how often do they interbreed?
Cheers,

Tony
Hi Tony,

I think that Pied and White wagtails are almost universally considered to be two distinctive subspecies of the same species, thus they are very closely related. According to Alstrom & Mild, Pipits & Wagtails, the two forms are regularly found nesting outside their core breeding range in small numbers, often in mixed pairs (Pieds paired up with Whites in coastal Europe, Whites paired up with Pieds in the UK).

Chris

[colonelboris]

Aha, I hadn't seen anything about on them pairing up so thanks for that. Bet the offspring are hard to identify in Winter... ;)