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Yellow Wagatil - flavissima or flava? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter MK90
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dwatsonbirder
Well-known member
As you've yet to have a reply, here is my take for what little it is worth; Given the number of intergrades between the races (and in light that most of the diagnostic features relate solely to males of those races), as I understand it, female Yellow wagtails cannot accurately be assigned a racial identity; that said, the concolourous and uniformly marked ear coverts, and extent of the dark marking on the crown extending onto the nape would suggest something other than flavissima - I couldn't comment further, other than to say that these are often referred to as female flava types (correctly or otherwise!).
Here are a couple of oddities I found in a single large group earlier this spring. The left hand bird in the first image looks superficially similar to yours, some call this a female flava (I'm not convinced!), whilst the second bird others have called a female flava x flavissima (aka female "Channel"), again I'm not convinced they can be accurately assigned to a specific race.
Please excuse the low quality images - it is me, not the camera!
I appreciate this probably doesn't help with your query, but I hope it has been interesting, and perhaps highlights why people may be reluctant to reply!
Here are a couple of oddities I found in a single large group earlier this spring. The left hand bird in the first image looks superficially similar to yours, some call this a female flava (I'm not convinced!), whilst the second bird others have called a female flava x flavissima (aka female "Channel"), again I'm not convinced they can be accurately assigned to a specific race.
Please excuse the low quality images - it is me, not the camera!
I appreciate this probably doesn't help with your query, but I hope it has been interesting, and perhaps highlights why people may be reluctant to reply!
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SteveClifton
Well-known member
I agree completely Dan. Almost every year or second year I come across females that resemble your birds. Last year I found 2 in a group totalling less than 15 birds.
They occur far more frequently in my opinion than male flava or Channel wagtails, and have been historically noted in Yorkshire to pair with male flavissimas on a regular basis, with seemingly little effect on the numbers of blue-headed type males. So I would conclude that female birds like yours are within variation of 'normal' flavissima. They very likely do result from interbreeding between races in their history, but proving it is difficult.
That said, as Dan also implied, the bird in post #1 is perhaps stretching the term 'within normal variation' of flavissima and perhaps has flava or even thunbergi genes somewhere in its ancestry?
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dwatsonbirder
Well-known member
Cheers Steve, glad to hear that others are of a similar opinion - I've always wondered about reports of "female Blue-headed" and viewed them with some suspicion!
I agree that the OP bird is unusual - the mantle tone is quite dark, but I wonder if this is in part due to the strong sunlight.
I agree that the OP bird is unusual - the mantle tone is quite dark, but I wonder if this is in part due to the strong sunlight.
SteveClifton
Well-known member
Possibly but the crown and ear coverts are also unusually dark in my experience, so I suspect it is an integrade of some kind.
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