Eastern Yellow Wagtail

(Eastern yellow wagtail, Dursey Island,

Cork, 3 Nov 2017 - Joe Proudfoot)

On the 3rd of November 2017 I received a text message and some back of the camera photos from my friend Joe Proudfoot of a very grey yellow wagtail that he had just found on Dursey island, Cork. I was very intrigued by the photos and asked Joe had he heard the bird calling yet, he had and also managed a sound recording. The call and plumage being the key identification features, all nailed by the photos and recording. Just Ireland’s second confirmed record of this vagrant. The first being another first-winter on Tory Island, Donegal on the 12th October 2013. 

Identification:

Although Joe’s images are not of great close up quality (To be expected from Joe lol) PS. Sorry for slagging Joe. The grey plumage of a yellow wagtail in Autumn is always striking and could mean you are onto something rather rare, just like this bird. The Eastern yellow wagtail has been thought to be an extremely rare vagrant to Ireland for many years, though perhaps they are not as rare as we think? I have seen quite a few images of grey plumaged yellow wagtails from Autumn in Ireland from over the years and suspect that we didn’t know enough about the Eastern yellow wagtail to explore deeper into these previously recorded candidates. Unfortunately from the images of this bird many of the key features are difficult to see in any detail.

Calls and Sonogram:

This grey plumaged yellow wagtail gave the classic raspy citrine like calls. Which is the key piece of the puzzle when identifying Eastern yellow wagtails. Below are three sonograms from Magnus Robb confirming that this bird was an Eastern yellow wagtail along with the images.

Key Features:

• Prominent supercilium which is flared behind the eye

• Light grey face and upper parts

• White on the greater and median wing coverts, forming two wing-bars

• White edges to the tertials

• Grey wash to the flanks

• Greyish spot to the centre of the chest

• No obvious since of a lateral crown stripe

• Grey ear-coverts

• White crescent below the eye

• White under-tail coverts seen at a distance

References: (EYW British birding.pdf) (BotEADutchBirding365295-311_2014.pdf)

White under parts contrasting with the grey upper parts and grey washed flanks.

Light grey upper part tone show in this image taken in better light than the one below. Showing those white wing-bars off.

The grey wash to the flanks is well represented in this image, along with the dark mark on the centre of the chest. 

I think more and more Autumn grey plumaged yellow wagtails will be scrutenied harder from now on. And why not, we will find more Eastern yellow wagtails, and that has been the case with at least two more birds found and confirmed in Wexford and Galway. These are birds that we should be discussing about more often, and that is

Why I enjoy making these short blog posts about other peoples encounters in the 

Field. 

#Wagtails #Autumn #Teamwork #Discovering #VikingOptical 

#BirdGuides #Yellowwags