Callum Macgregor

This common passerine has a large breeding distribution which covers the whole of Europe, with two subspecies: alba across the continent, yarrellii (Pied Wagtail) restricted to the British Isles. Winter range includes North Africa, the Middle East, but also some sub-Saharan regions in the Sahel.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		30300000-51100000,39000000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for White Wagtail

Overall direction of migration is southwards, with a magnitude increasing with the latitude of breeding location. Northern breeders move to the south or south-east, with winter recoveries from southern Fennoscandia to the Middle East and the Nile valley in Egypt. Eastern breeders also winter in the Middle East and Egypt. Breeders from Central and West Europe move to the south-west, with most winter recoveries in West and South-West Europe, also North Africa. Breeders from South Central and South West disperse locally or undergo short distance movements to North Africa. Long-distance recoveries from Icelandic birds to the British Isles and S to Senegal. Ssp. yarrellii mainly sedentary, but regular movements to West Europe and Iberia, North Africa, with also some records in West Africa (Davis 1966). The low ringing effort in the Middle East, North Africa and Sahel certainly underestimates the proportion of European birds wintering there.

Recoveries by Condition for White Wagtail

Temporal trends from 75% of dead recoveries before 1960 to >80% of ringing recoveries after 1990, certainly impacting the obtained picture. Overall, live ringing casualties predominate.

Annual Movements for White Wagtail

Overall, the main migration periods are October and March, with no obvious differences betweeadult and first-year individuals. Some indications that females move further south than males in some populations (ssp. yarrellii), as winter sex-ratio male-biased on breeding grounds (Mackay and Sellers 1989). Northern birds start to move earlier, in September, and are back later in April. Breeders from mid latitudes move mainly in October, when northern birds should be at similar latitudes too. Southern birds are only dispersive across their breeding regions. The non-breeding dispersal of southern populations is not well understood from ringing recoveries which document long-distance movements while a majority seem to have only a short-distance dispersal.

Connectivity by Month by Region for White Wagtail

Birds breeding in North Europe move to the Middle East and North Africa mainly in September, reaching the wintering grounds by early October, coming back mostly mid-April. Breeders from Central and East Europe move later, from the last decade of September and in October, reaching the wintering grounds mostly in November, and back end of March/early April. Breeders from the West region move in October and are back from the end of March. Those yarrellii leaving the British Isles move at the end of September, and are back in April (Dougall 1996).

Frédéric Jiguet

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Davis, P.1966 . The movements of Pied Wagtails as shown by ringing. Bird Study 13 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00063656609476117) : 147–162
Dougall, T.W.1996 . Timing of autumn migration of Pied Wagtails Motacilla alba yarrellii, in northern Britain. Bird Study 17 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03078698.1996.9674130) : 139–141
Mackay, I.R.K., Sellers, R.M.1989 . Male-biased sex ratio in Pied Wagtails wintering in Highland Region. Scottish Birds 15: 136–137

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