Wagtail i.d. Naxos, Greece. (1 Viewer)

Hello all!

A friend of mine photographed this bird on the 3/9/07 on the island of Naxos and would appreciate your opinions on it.

Unfortunately he didn't manage to get any other shots...

(Photos copied with his permission).

Thanks for your time,

Dimitris

I'd say a Yellow Wagtail, apart from grey tone it doesn't look at all odd and I've seen a few like that in UK.

John

I'd agree, it comes from somewhere in the Motacilla flava complex. I saw a few like that in Sweden at the weekend.

Stuart

I believe a lot of the eastern Yellow Wags have there first winter plumage lacking any yellow at all. They look superficially like a first winter Citrine, but lacking the pale ear covert surround, and a few other subtle differences.

I THINK ITS LIKE THIS

Not easy to assign this to a specific race of Yellow Wag. But what it is n't is a juv feldegg which I imagine is the race that breeds on Naxos. So at least you have a migrant - which you probably already knew.

Hello all,

Thanks for your replies so far. My friend has sent me some comments on the bird and compared them with Rashed's photo (of which we are very thankful off). We're still not 100% satisfied it's a Yellow Wag:

First of all Rashed could you please tell us when you took the photo? It would help eliminate some possibilities.

Now to the comparison between the 2 birds:

1) The super on our bird is quite a broad (at least at the front) and prominent in comparisson to Rasheds bird.
2) Note the long tail on our bird and the chest heavy stance (of course could be a 'stance effect'). (short tail and slim chest on Rashed's)
3) The overall colouration of Rashed's bird is yellowish with a soft grey tail. While our bird appears to be grey with quite a dark tail as well (Citrine characteristic?).
4) Finaly the bill on our bird seems to be (photo glitch?) to be solid black. It also appears to be broader and less 'heavy' than on Rashed's bird.

The above comments seem to point towards Citrine (except the eyebrow and face pattern). Of course it may well be a Yellow.

We would be grateful if any of you could provide us with info/experience/photos of Yellow Wags showing the above characters. (or confirmation that it's Citrine )

Many Thanks,

Dimitris

+1 for Yellow Wagtail, whiw.

This bird is most certainly not a classic Citrine because of the lack of a pale ear covert surround alone, this feature can be feint, but it would still show in these photos.

I still reckon the bird is a Yellow Wag of eastern race. Not certain what race, but I still think it's a first win Yellow all the same.

I Tack The Photo Befor 3 Days
And I Thank It Is A Juv Yellow Wagtail
And I Have Photo For Citrine Wagtail In Same Taim

RASHED said:

I Tack The Photo Befor 3 Days
And I Thank It Is A Juv Yellow Wagtail
And I Have Photo For Citrine Wagtail In Same Taim

Click to expand...

Yes, I don't think anyone could argue that this bird is a Citrine!

Many thanks Rashed, Doughie and TH_SQ.

I will inform my friend of your replies.

I'm still wondering of that ghost of a necklace on our bird...(could this be of mixed parenting some time ago...?)

Cheers!

Dimitris