From Opus

Photo by Rajiv Lather
Karnal, India

Motacilla citreola

[edit] Identification

15.5-17 cm.
Two very noticeable white bars on wing coverts.
Summer Male: Lemon-yellow head, black hind collar and blue or slate-grey upperparts. Bright yellow below.
Adult Female and winter Male are much duller.

[edit] Similar Species

Yellow Wagtail, which lacks the grey back.

[edit] Distribution

Female
Photo by Pavlik
The Saratov area, Russia, May 2004

Citrine Wagtail has a breeding distribution from Russia through Siberia, and south to Iran, Afghanistan, India, Tibet, China, and Myanmar.

The species is migratory at least in parts of its range, and is a rare but regular guest to western Europe.

Accidental vagrant to the United States with one record in Mississippi.

[edit] Taxonomy

Generally speaking, citreola is a north-eastern subspecies, werae is south and west of that, and calcarata is south of both.

A recent paper by Pavlova et al. (2003) has proposed that Citrine wagtail should be split into two species, an eastern and a western part (see external link). The evidence came from DNA analysis and indicated that when an analysis included Yellow Wagtail, the two populations of Citrine wagtail were not each others closest relatives. This split is not at present accepted by many taxonomic authorities but if it were to become accepted, the western species (corresponding to current subspecies werae) would breed west and south of a line from a little east of the west end of Mongolia to the White Sea, while the eastern species (corresponding to citreola) would be confined to areas north and east of that line. The authors seemed not to sample the range of calcarata.

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• M. c. citreola:

• North-eastern Russia to Siberia, Mongolia and Manchuria; winters to India

• M. c. werae:

• Russian and Siberian steppes to eastern Iran, Afghanistan and India

• M. c. calcarata:

• Eastern Iran to northern Afghanistan, Tibet, southern China and Burma

[edit] Habitat

Wet meadows, tundra, bogs.

[edit] Behaviour

Less inclined to bob the head or wag the tail than other wagtails.

[edit] Breeding

It is a ground nester and 4-5 speckled eggs are laid.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes insects.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Wikipedia
3. Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
4. Collins Bird Guide ISBN 0 00 219728 6

• List of references

[edit] External Links

• The paper that proposes a split of Citrine Wagtail