Juvenile Yellow Wagtail? (UK) (1 Viewer)

[Julian Mole]

Hi,

On arriving at a local reservoir yesterday I was caught completely unprepared when I tried to photograph this bird, as the previous night i had been taking photos of the moon using a tripod (I had mirror lock on, a shutter speed of 1/80sec and the IS switched off) hence a somewhat blurry picture!!
Unfortunately it was then disturbed and flew off before I could take another photo with the correct settings.

Please could anyone tell whether this is a juvenile Yellow Wagtail because I haven't seen one before and it doesn't match the drawings in my bird books.

Thanks in advance,

Julian.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

It's a juvenile Pied Wagtail, which do show a bit of a yellowish tinge to the head.

 

[garydayes]

Juvenile Pied Wagtail.

 

[DaveN]

Juvenile Pied Wagtail.

 

[Julian Mole]

Hey, thanks guys. :t:

Guess i was a bit wide of the mark, at least I got the family right! : )

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Hey, thanks guys. :t:

Guess i was a bit wide of the mark, at least I got the family right! : )

As a matter of fact, you got the genus right!

 

[Julian Mole]

Woops! Sorry Cristian.

I went back to the reservoir yesterday and this time managed to find a real Yellow Wagtail, but an adult male not a juvenile. (and he was very yellow! But sadly too far away for a decent photo)

 

[Cristian Mihai]

I went back to the reservoir yesterday and this time managed to find a real Yellow Wagtail, but an adult male not a juvenile. (and he was very yellow! But sadly too far away for a decent photo)

Hi Julian,
Maybe next time you'll succeed to take some pics. Some Yellow Wagtails from Romania here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=138719

 

[Julian Mole]

Thanks Cristian, I had no idea there were so many sub-species to the Yellow Wagtail. It'll be interestsing to find out what type the one I saw yesterday is - so I'll now definitely have to get a decent photo! : )

 

[Cristian Mihai]

If it was a "very yellow" bird, maybe it was a female flavissima...

 

[Julian Mole]

Hi Cristian,

Today I mananged to get some photos of the adult Yellow Wagtail at the reservoir. I'm sure it must be a male, as it looks exactly the same as the illustration in my bird book.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the photos so you could identify which sub species it belongs to.

Cheers, Julian. : )

 

[Zac Hinchcliffe]

aye, a dazzling male... i've never seen a yellow wagtail in convincingly photographable distnace!

Zac

 

[RoyW]

Hi Julian,

These photos all show a male of the flavissima race. This is the only race that typically breeds in Britain, although some of the others are seen as scarce migrants or vagrants.

Roy.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

It's a flavissima indeed. Great pics!

 

[Brian Bullough]

Very nice shots of a cracking bird , I have seen and photographed numerous Yellow Wagtails this spring, never one as close as this.
Brian

 

[Julian Mole]

Hi Zac, Roy, Cristian and Brian,

Thanks for the ID on the sub species. :t:

I was lucky, in that I didn't go looking for it (this time), instead it came to me! I was busy attempting to photograph Hirundines in flight when I noticed it fly in and land ~30 feet away.

Incidentally, the photos posted above are all severely cropped, while the one below was created from roughly 2/3rds of the full frame.

Right place, right time I guess! : )

 

[Fozzybear]

Nice shots Julian, gorgeous Wagtail!

 

[Julian Mole]

Thanks Fozzy.

 

[paulwfromtheden]

Thanks Fozzy.

Interestingly we had an Iberian (we think) Yellow Wagtail at Beddington SF last night...

 

[gradders52]

Great shots. Just out of interest, which reservoir?