Motacilla tschutschensis
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on Ren Hathway's illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
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 Nagarhole National Park on a given day, based on 7 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 259th most-seen of the 272 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Yellow Wagtail in Nagarhole National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to March, the lowest months. That is one of Nagarhole National Park's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain against 270 mm in July.
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.
10th of 13
Of the 13 parks where we can rate Eastern Yellow Wagtail sightings, Nagarhole National Park ranks 10th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kaziranga National Park (India, about 30%), Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, about 10%) and Sundarbans National Park (India, about 10%).
Same genus: Motacilla
The closest relatives of the Eastern Yellow Wagtail that you can see in Nagarhole National Park (genus Motacilla, Wagtails) are White-browed Wagtail (about 40%), Grey Wagtail (about 30%) and Western Yellow Wagtail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Yellow Wagtail is recorded against all the birds logged in Nagarhole National Park (7 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
