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PLATE 109: WAGTAILS II
White Wagtail Motacilla alba WV, PM
L: 18. Race M. a. alba predominates. Easily told from other wagtails by grey, black and white
plumage, with grey back contrasting with black nape (male) or crown (female), white face and
ear-coverts contrasting sharply with black throat and breast. Juvenile, and especially winter
birds, have whitish underparts with prominent black sagging half-moon on breast. Flanks
show some greyness, concolorous with or paler than mantle. Flight undulating, when often calls.
Voice Disyllabic call slightly metallic, a hard tse-lit with stress on second syllable. Song composed
of call notes, a lively garbled twittering. Habitat Open areas, often near habitation, cultivation,
livestock. Note Passage and winter hatched. Two other distinct subspecies are described separately
below.
Masked Wagtail M. a. personata NE Iranian breeding subspecies has black of head and breast
merging at sides of neck and ear-coverts, leaving smaller white area around face (same
pattern in both sexes, but darker in male); white edges on wing-coverts, tertials and secondaries
also much broader than in White Wagtail. Voice Call more metallic than White Wagtail, approaching
Grey Wagtail. Habitat Open areas, often near habitation, cultivation and especially near cattle.
Note Winter range hatched.Amur Wagtail M. a. leucopsis Adult male in summer plumage is unmistakable and differs from
White Wagtail (nominate race) by larger area of white on face, black back (grey in White Wagtail),
white flanks and a large white wing panel. Voice Similar to White Wagtail. Habitat In winter,
mainly farmland. Note Vagrant Oman.Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis V
L: 17. Race M. t. taivana (Green-headed Wagtail) occurs. Spring male has crown, nape and back
greyish-green, yellow supercilium and underparts, white wing-bars and black ear-coverts
that are noticeably darker than forehead, crown and nape. Note that black ear-coverts are not
surrounded by a pale ring as in immature Citrine Wagtail; some birds occurring in winter in the
Salalah area resemble taivana but show yellow at the rear edge of the dark ear-coverts. The origin
of these birds is unclear but it has been suggested they could be of hybrid origin. Voice High-pitched
zii. Habitat Wet meadows, grasslands. Note Vagrant Oman.