Hi all,
Could anyone help me identify this bird?
Many thanks!
Hi all, Thank you for your responses so far, all comments are helpful! :-) I will try to get a better shot when I see the little one again (he's been around for a few days now). Daniela
I was thinking wagtail, more likely a grey wagtail.
To me it is a Pied/ White wagtail. The question is which? However this may well be an irrelevant question. According to Wiki mtDNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence data suggests that the white wagtail is itself polyphyletic or paraphyletic (i.e. the species is not itself a single coherent grouping).[8] Other phylogenetic studies using mtDNA still suggest that there is considerable gene flow within the races and the resulting closeness makes Motacilla alba a single species. i.e. there is a continuum between the two species.
I don't think that there is any doubt that white and pied wagtails are the same species. Motacilla alba yarrellii (pied wagtail) is the UK race of that species that after years of geographic separation from its continental relative developed a subtly different appearance. Yellow wagtails are far more interesting see https://www.birdguides.com/articles/species-profiles/focus-on-shades-of-yellow-wagtail/