Motacilla citreola
The Citrine Wagtail, Motacilla citreola, is a strikingly beautiful passerine bird renowned for its vibrant yellow plumage, especially in breeding males. Measuring approximately 15.5-17 cm (6.1-6.7 in) in length with a weight of 14-20 grams, males in breeding attire sport a brilliant yellow head and underparts, a distinctive black nape band, and a contrasting grey back, accented by two prominent white wing-bars. Females and non-breeding males exhibit a more subdued greenish-yellow, often with ...
Primarily found in open, wet environments such as marshes, wet meadows, bogs, tundra, and the edges of lakes and rivers, often at low to moderate elevations.
Feeds almost exclusively on small invertebrates, including flies, beetles, larvae, and other insects, which it primarily gleans from the ground or surfaces of vegetation.
Citrine Wagtails are diurnal birds, actively foraging during the day and roosting in dense vegetation, often in small communal groups, at night. They employ a ground-gleaning foraging strategy, walking purposefully with their characteristic tail-wagging motion to flush and capture small invertebr...
The Citrine Wagtail breeds across a vast expanse of the central Palearctic, stretching from Eastern Europe (including parts of Finland, the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine) eastward through Russia, Siberia, and Central Asia to Mongolia and northern China. Its primary breeding strongholds are ...
Least Concern
- The name 'wagtail' refers to the bird's characteristic, almost constant, tail-wagging motion, a behavior whose exact purpose is still debated among ornithologists. - Unlike most European wagtails, the Citrine Wagtail has shown a significant westward range expansion in recent decades, breeding i...