Pied Wagtail? (1 Viewer)

Until recently my birding was out and about in kent. but i now have the fortune to have a large garden and my knowledge of Birds of prey is good but of garden birds that are now hitting my feeders is not apart from sparrows Robins etc.

One popped in 3 days ago and now is a regular visitor after looking it up it was a Pied wagtail. What a stunning and Bold bird.
I went out to fill the feeders and they all scarpered apart from the Wagtail which scuttled around me and was not frightened at all.
Can anyone tell me a bit more about this bold little fella!

Hi Free,
Can't really comment on Pied Wagtails in the U.K.,but I think many wagtails the world over are like that.The Cape and African Wagtails that I used to find in my garden in South Africa were the same.Here in Taiwan there is a pair of White Wagtails that are always visiting my place,and they're the same.

Mark

The Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba yarelli is the British race of White Wagtail although there has been talk of them being split at some point. In winter they form large roost gatherings in cities, normally near street lights and often showing a preference for London Plane. These roosts can involve may hundreds of birds. They are completely insectivorous and breed in open farrmland type habitats with hedgerows and wires. They also like industrial estates and any areas with good song posts. They also tend to be never far away from man. Away from the breeding season they like football fields and large grassy areas. Their call is typically 'chissick' but they are capable of a rather musical song and some birds can have a rather Yellow-wagtail like call.

Hope that helps Free.

I have a Pied Wagtail in my garden too. He's always chasing the other ground feeding birds around the garden. Here is a picture I took last winter.

The Pied Wagtails were very numerous around the turn of Spring this year. They would regularly flock on the roof of my flat in their numbers before going off to roost. There were around 50 individuals

I don't see them much now. Do they spend the summer months nesting? I remember one of the main stories on last year's Springwatch programme was an unsuccessful hatching of pied wagtails after a predator had taken the nest. We have seen juvenilles (at home in Cornwall) which are a more reddish-brown colour than white. They aren't attracted to the garden feeders, but sometimes look for insects in the gutters

Given their city-foraging nature, perhaps the reason it was bolder than the others could be from its experience of human activity?

Thanks for the replies.
They are really bold little fella's . I like em!