Grey wagtail, with red chest? Allier France -- no photo (1 Viewer)

[Frank van Drogen]

Hey all,

The other day I was observing a number of Grey Wagtails at the edge of a pond, taking a bunch of photos. I then went to our other pond, but left the camera behind. There was another Grey Wagtail but when looking through my bins I realized this one had an obvious red chest.

Behavior was exactly the same as for the other ones. I tried to check for subspecies, but came up empty handed. (Also, went to quickly grab my camera, but it flew of before I was back).

Does anyone have some insight?

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Staining?

 

[dantheman]

Rust staining from some other water source/outflow?

 

[Frank van Drogen]

Staining is possible, it seemed rather symmetric though. I also thought about blood.... but would be surprised the bird would survive such a loss.

 

[Jos Stratford]

Was it a lady Grey Wagtail? Smudged lipstick? 😅

 

[Earnest lad]

could it have been a young bird

 

[dantheman]

Was it a Lady Grey Wagtail?

More likely to be Rooibos ...




(Posh tea staining, in case anyone was wondering)

 

[dantheman]

There is a condition where red pigments are replaced with yellow (xanthochromism), but not sure if it can (commonly/rarely) happen the other way around, as it would require an extra chemistry/enzyme change, as opposed to loss of one ... ??

 

[Harrybongo]

Was it a lady Grey Wagtail? Smudged lipstick? 😅

😂 👍

 

[Frank van Drogen]

could it have been a young bird

Definitely! Resembles it very closely!

Thanks so much!

 

[Jos Stratford]

Definitely! Resembles it very closely!

Thanks so much!

Yep, confirms the lipstick theory ...them young ones never know when it's too much make up 👍

 

[dantheman]

Very disappointing if so. Was picturing some kind of Robin/Grey Wagtail hybrid look-a-like ...

 

[Earnest lad]

Definitely! Resembles it very closely!

Thanks so much!

You're most welcome!

 

[Butty]

obvious red

🤔