White Wagtail
Motacilla alba
The constant bobbing of its long tail, which accounts for almost half its body length, is the wagtail’s trademark. In some cities large flocks gather at communal roosts in winter.
- Group
- Songbirds
- Photos
- 11
- Taken
- 2019–2025
Profile: White Wagtail
- Family
- Wagtails and pipits (Motacillidae)
- Size
- approx. 16.5–19 cm
- Weight
- approx. 25 g
- Habitat
- Open country, often near water, as well as villages, farmyards, fields, car parks and gravel banks.
- Diet
- Almost exclusively insects and other arthropods such as spiders, plus worms and small snails; prey is picked up while running quickly along the ground or snatched in flight.
- When to see
- Partial migrant: present from about March to October; most Central European birds winter in south-western Europe and North Africa.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)