Motacilla tschutschensis
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on Ren Hathway's illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 3 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 6 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 8 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 9 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 10 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 11 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 12 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 13 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quanzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Taipei | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 3 | Taichung | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 4 | Tamluk | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Tuen Mun | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Kolkata | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Kaohsiung | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 8 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 9 | Fuzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 10 | Xiuying District | 🇨🇳 China |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Yellow Wagtail sighting in Hangzhou on a given day, based on 38 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 119th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Hangzhou on a given day, against under 5% in November to September, the lowest months. That is one of Hangzhou's driest months, with about 70 mm of rain against 250 mm in June.
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.
21st of 36
Of the 36 cities where we can rate Eastern Yellow Wagtail sightings, Hangzhou ranks 21st at under 5%. The best odds are in Quanzhou (China, about 40%), Taipei (Taiwan, about 30%) and Taichung (Taiwan, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Yellow Wagtail is recorded against all the birds logged in Hangzhou (38 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.
