Motacilla flava
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on Ren Hathway's illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of temperate Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, moving south to tropical Africa and southern Asia for the winter; the small population breeding in Egypt is however resident there.
It is a slender 15–16 cm long bird, with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. It is the shortest tailed of the European wagtails. The breeding adult male is basically olive above and yellow below. In other plumages, particularly in juveniles, the yellow may be diluted to whitish. The heads of breeding males come in a variety of colours and patterns depending on subspecies. The call is a high-pitched jeet. This insectivorous bird inhabits open country near water, such as wet meadows. It nests in tussocks, laying 4–8 speckled eggs.
The western yellow wagtail was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under its current binomial name Motacilla flava. In 1555 the Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner had used the identical... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agra | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Rajkot | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Dakar | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 6 | Kalyan-Dombivli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 8 | Luxor | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 9 | Nashik | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Lahore | 🇵🇰 Pakistan |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Western Yellow Wagtail sighting in Surat on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 72nd most-seen of the 114 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.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Western Yellow Wagtail in Surat on a given day, against under 5% in March, May–August and November, the lowest months. That is one of Surat's driest months, with almost no rain against 450 mm in July.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Western 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.
31st of 97
Of the 97 cities where we can rate Western Yellow Wagtail sightings, Surat ranks 31st at about 10%. The best odds are in Agra (India, about 30%), Rajkot (India, about 30%) and Kampala (Uganda, about 20%).
Same genus: Motacilla
The closest relatives of the Western Yellow Wagtail that you can see in Surat (genus Motacilla, Wagtails) are Grey Wagtail (about 20%) and White Wagtail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Western Yellow Wagtail is recorded against all the birds logged in Surat (11 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.
