Yellow Wagtail for ID, Singalila NP, Nepal, Oct 2021 (1 Viewer)

[sbiswas.geo]

This is a Yellow Wagtail. question is - Eastern or Western? Is it possible to say from these two images, or shall be kept as Western/Eastern?

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,
havent knowingly seen an eastern before, but

• the long hind-claw of this bird is a feature of eastern YW according to literature
• it really is a grey and white bird, lacking any olive or browhnish hues on the visible upperparts
• there are faint yellow hues on breast and rear bely, but the undertail-coverts are white (rare in autumn western YW)

Not a confident answer, but my heart-beat would rise when I would see this YW in Euripe.

 

[sbiswas.geo]

Hello,
havent knowingly seen an eastern before, but

• the long hind-claw of this bird is a feature of eastern YW according to literature
• it really is a grey and white bird, lacking any olive or browhnish hues on the visible upperparts
• there are faint yellow hues on breast and rear bely, but the undertail-coverts are white (rare in autumn western YW)

Not a confident answer, but my heart-beat would rise when I would see this YW in Euripe.

Thank you for the response. Yes, I am aware of the long hindclaw pointer but this is a distant photo (zoomed on photohshop) and I thought this size is not definitive in this photo to conclude. Taken against light background, I am not sure if the colours are also true representation, but undertail coverts do look whiter than flanks that have clearly yellowish hue. I thought the overall grey-white colours suggest towards Western rather than Eastern.

The default at this location is Eastern Yellow in eBird but it is based on very limited data - just from last year's records, that too further east at much lower altitude.