A Yellow Wagtail

amandstu

I seen a yella wagtail by my backdoor

Neva bin this close befoor.

Is this uncommon?(I understand they do not breed in Ireland and I guess my visitor-who seems to have taken up residence- has come from colder climes?)

This chap seems to be on his own.I did see a flock of small yellow breasted small birds in the wood but I don't think they were yellow wagtails.(the wagtails have a very particular flying manner, don't they)

We do have a lot of grey wagtails in the normal run of things(West Galway) but I never saw a yellow one before.

bb12

there's been a couple of yellow wagtails around my place the last few years. they appeared maybe 3 years ago...before that only the grey ones.

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119998323#Comment_119998323

Do the males and the females look the same?

I only see one at a time.....

Alun

Here's an overview ...

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/pipits-and-wagtails/

I've always found the names for wagtails a bit strange, for years I was convinced that grey wagtails were actually yellow wagtails, because of the yellow breast, and thought pied wagtails were actually grey wagtails :)

amandstu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119999367#Comment_119999367

I will have to take a closer look then.It is pied wagtails that we have continuously and the newcomer is either a yellow or a grey one(from the pic it seems the yellow one has a yellow face which the grey fella does not)

Alun

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119999409#Comment_119999409

I did think when I first saw your post that there maybe was a bit of confusion there, but didn't want to presume anything :) On balance, it's much more likely that they're grey wagtails as they're much more common here.

Jim_Hodge

Yellow wagtails are very much Summer visitors. What many call yellows are Grey wagtails.