Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Motacilla tschutschensis

Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on Ren Hathway's illustration · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Bangkok

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%

692 Verified sightings at Bangkok
799 In all 13 parks From 2019 to 2026
January Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Eastern Yellow Wagtail

The eastern yellow wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis) is a small passerine in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. It was formerly usually classified as a subspecies of the western yellow wagtail, but was split from it in 2003 when genetic data showed this classification to be paraphyletic with respect to the citrine wagtail. It breeds in the eastern Palearctic and Alaska and migrates to South Asia and Australia.

The eastern yellow wagtail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla and coined the binomial name Motacilla tschutschensis. The specific epithet tschutschensis is from the locality, the Chukchi Peninsula is eastern Russia. Gmelin based his account on the "Tchutschi wagtail" that had been described by John Latham in 1783 and by Thomas Pennant in 1785. In his description Pennant wrote "Taken off the Tchutschi coat, with the Streights of Bering, Lat. 66, north". This is almost certainly the bird captured in 1778 during James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:28

Mongolia · 2026

© Ding Li Yong · XC1138310 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Flight call0:12

Malaysia · 2026

© Lim Ying Hien 林勇贤 · XC1071358 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Song1:20

Mongolia · 2005

© Geoff Carey · XC729721 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Kaziranga National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
2 Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park 🇲🇳 Mongolia
~10%
3 Sundarbans National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Raja Ampat 🇮🇩 Indonesia
<5%
5 Udawalawe National Park 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka
<5%
6 Manas National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
7 Kaeng Krachan National Park 🇹🇭 Thailand
<5%
8 Kinabalu Park 🇲🇾 Malaysia
<5%
9 Taroko National Park 🇹🇼 Taiwan
<5%
10 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
11 Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary 🇲🇾 Malaysia
<5%
12 Khao Yai National Park 🇹🇭 Thailand
<5%
13 Doi Inthanon National Park 🇹🇭 Thailand
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Quanzhou 🇨🇳 China
~40%
2 Taipei 🇹🇼 Taiwan
~30%
3 Taichung 🇹🇼 Taiwan
~20%
4 Tamluk 🇮🇳 India
~10%
5 Tuen Mun 🇨🇳 China
~10%
6 Kolkata 🇮🇳 India
~10%
7 Kaohsiung 🇹🇼 Taiwan
~10%
8 Novosibirsk 🇷🇺 Russia
~10%
9 Fuzhou 🇨🇳 China
~10%
10 Xiuying District 🇨🇳 China
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing an Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Bangkok?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Yellow Wagtail sighting in Bangkok on a given day, based on 692 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 74th most-seen of the 277 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see an Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Bangkok?

September to April

In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Bangkok on a given day, against under 5% in May to August, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see an Eastern Yellow Wagtail?

Between 7 and 10 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Yellow Wagtail sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Is Bangkok the best place to see an Eastern Yellow Wagtail?

11th of 36

Of the 36 cities where we can rate Eastern Yellow Wagtail sightings, Bangkok ranks 11th at about 10%. The best odds are in Quanzhou (China, about 40%), Taipei (Taiwan, about 30%) and Taichung (Taiwan, about 20%).

Where does the Eastern Yellow Wagtail sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Eastern Yellow Wagtail is recorded against all the birds logged in Bangkok (692 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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