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The white wagtail (Motacilla alba) is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of Europe and Asia and parts of north Africa. It is resident in the mildest parts of its range, but otherwise migrates to Africa. It has a toehold in Alaska as a scarce breeder. In the British Isles the darker sub-species the pied wagtail (M. a. yarrellii) predominates.
The white wagtail is an insectivorous bird of open country, often near habitation and water. It prefers bare areas for feeding, where it can see and pursue its prey. In urban areas it has adapted to foraging on paved areas such as car parks. It nests in crevices in stone walls and similar natural and man-made structures.
The white wagtail is the national bird of Latvia
Taxonomy and systematics
Breeding ranges of the major races
The white wagtail was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original name of Motacilla alba.[3] The Latin genus name originally meant "little mover", but certain medieval writers thought it meant "wag-tail", giving rise to a new Latin word cilla for "tail".[4] The specific epithet alba is Latin for "white".
Within the wagtail genus Motacilla, the white wagtail's closest relatives appear to be other black-and-white wagtails such as the Japanese wagtail, Motacilla grandis, and the white-browed wagtail, Motacilla madaraspatensis (and possibly the Mekong wagtail, Motacilla samveasnae, the phylogenetic position of which is mysterious), with which it appears to form a superspecies. However, 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).[5] 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.[6] Some studies have suggested the existence of only two groups : the alboides group, with M. a. alboides, M. a. leucopsis and M. a. personata; and the alba group, with M. a. alba, M. a. yarrellii, M. a. baicalensis, M. a. ocularis, M. a. lugens, and M. a. subpersonata.[7]
Description
An adult with a juvenile in Kazakhstan
The white wagtail is a slender bird, 16.5–19 cm (6½–7½ in) in length (East Asian subspecies are longer, measuring up to 21 cm (8¼ in), with the characteristic long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. Its average weight is 25 g (0.88 oz) and the maximum lifespan in the wild is c. 12 years.[8] The nominate subspecies Motacilla alba alba is basically grey above and white below, with a white face, black cap and black throat.
There are a number of other subspecies, some of which may have arisen because of partial geographical isolation, such as the resident British form, the pied wagtail M. a. yarrellii, which now also breeds in adjacent areas of the neighbouring European mainland. The pied wagtail, named for naturalist William Yarrell, exchanges the grey colour of the nominate form with black (or very dark grey in females), but is otherwise identical in its behaviour. Other subspecies, the validity of some of which is questionable, differ in the colour of the wings, back, and head, or other features. Some races show sexual dimorphism during the breeding season. As many as six subspecies may be present in the wintering ground in India or Southeast Asia and here they can be difficult to distinguish.[9][10][11][12] Phylogenetic studies using mtDNA suggest that some morphological features have evolved more than once, including the back and chin colour. Breeding M. a. yarrellii look much like the nominate race except for the black back, and M. a. alboides of the Himalayas differs from the Central Asian M. a. personata only by its black back. M. a. personata has been recorded breeding in the Siddar Valley of Kashmir of the Western Himalayas.[13] It has also been noted that both back and chin change colour during the pre-basic moult; all black-throated subspecies develop white chins and throats in winter and some black-backed birds are grey-backed in winter.[6][9]
The call of the white wagtail is a sharp chisick, slightly softer than the version given by the pied wagtail. The song is a pleasant twittering, more regular in White than Pied, but with little territorial significance, since the male uses a series of contact calls to attract the female.[14]
Subspecies
Nine or eleven subspecies are currently recognised. Information on the plumage differences and distribution of the subspecies of the white wagtail is shown below.[15]
Subspecies Range Notes Image
M. a. alba Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to Ural Mountains, Turkey, the Levant, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Greenland's east coast. Some migrate to the south of Europe and Africa down as far as Kenya and Malawi Nominate subspecies Motacilla alba alba.JPG
M. a. yarrellii Great Britain and Ireland, birds in the northern part of the range winter in Spain and North Africa, those further south are resident.[16] Pied wagtail. Has a much blacker back than the nominate race, black of throat continues on side of neck Pied (white) wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii).JPG
M. a. dukhunensis West Siberian Plain – east Caspian Sea (part of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan), winters in the Middle East and India. Sometimes included in alba.[16] Indian pied wagtail. The upperparts of this subspecies are paler and more blue-grey than nominate, and has it has a continuous unbroken white panel on wing coverts.
M. a. persica North central and western Iran. Intermediate between M. a. dukhunensis and M. a. personata. Often included in alba; appears to be hybrid or intergrade population.[16] MotacillaAlbaPersica.jpg
M. a. subpersonata Non-migratory resident of Morocco Moroccan wagtail. It has more black on the head than the nominate, and resembles a grey-backed, white-throated African pied wagtail[16] Moroccan Wagtail.jpg
M. a. personata Hindu Kush, Tian Shan, Altay Mountains (northern Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang) Masked wagtail. All-black head with a white face mask White wagtail - Male (Non-breeding- personata race) at Hodal- I IMG 9164.jpg
M. a. alboides Himalayas and surrounding area This subspecies has a black back and a lot of black around the head, a white wing panel and white edges on the secondaries and tertials.
M. a. baicalensis Russia in Lake Baikal area, Mongolia, Inner Mongolia Resembles M. a. leucopsis but grey back and less white on head and wing.
M. a. ocularis Siberia, Far Eastern (Russia, eastwards from Central Siberian Plateau) expanding into West Alaska
M. a. lugens Russia Far East (Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai), Kamchatka Peninsula, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Japan (Hokkaidō, Honshū) Black-backed wagtail or kamchatka/Japanese pied wagtail, similar to M. a. yarrellii, but has a black eyestripe and white remiges; might have a claim to constitute a distinct species. Hakusekirei 06f5184cav.jpg
M. a. leucopsis China, Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Japan (Ryukyu Islands, Kyūshū), expanding into Japan (Honshū), Southeast Asia, India, and Oceania Amur wagtail[17][18][19] White Wagtail- (Non-breeding- leucopsis race) at Kolkata I1 IMG 5597.jpg
Distribution and habitat
Worldwide distribution of the white wagtail. Yellow denotes summer range, green year round range, blue winter range.
This species breeds throughout Eurasia up to latitudes 75°N, only being absent in the Arctic from areas where the July isotherm is less than 4 °C. It also breeds in the mountains of Morocco and western Alaska. It occupies a wide range of habitats, but is absent from deserts.[14]
White wagtail is resident in the milder parts of its range such as western Europe and the Mediterranean, but migratory in much of the rest of its range. Northern European breeders winter around the Mediterranean and in tropical and subtropical Africa,[20] and Asiatic birds move to the Middle East, India,[16] and SouthEast Asia.[21] Birds from the North American population also winter in tropical Asia.[22]
Behaviour and ecology
The most conspicuous habit of this species is a near-constant tail wagging, a trait that has given the species, and indeed the genus, its common name. In spite of the ubiquity of this behaviour, the reasons for it are poorly understood. It has been suggested that it may flush prey, or signal submissiveness to other wagtails. A recent study has suggested instead that it is a signal of vigilance to potential predators.[23]
Diet and feeding
The exact composition of the diet of white wagtails varies by location, but terrestrial and aquatic insects and other small invertebrates form the major part of the diet. These range from beetles, dragonflies, small snails, spiders, worms, crustaceans, to maggots found in carcasses and, most importantly, flies in the order Diptera.[16] Small fish fry have also been recorded in the diet. The white wagtail is somewhat unusual in the parts of its range where it is non-migratory as it is an insectivorous bird that continues to feed on insects during the winter (most other insectivorous birds in temperate climates migrate or switch to more vegetable matter).[24]
Breeding
Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
Juvenile M. a. alba in northern Norway, showing the grey face and chest
White wagtails are monogamous and defend breeding territories.[16] The breeding season for most is from April to August, with the season starting later further north. Both sexes are responsible for building the nest, with the male responsible for initiating the nest building and the female for finishing the process. For second broods in the subspecies personata the female alone builds the nest,which is a rough cup assembled from twigs, grass, leaves and other plant matter, as the male is still provisioning the young.[25] It is lined with soft materials, including animal hair. The nest is set into a crevice or hole; traditionally in a bank next to a river or ditch, but the species has also adapted to nesting in walls, bridges and buildings. One nest was found in the skull of a walrus. They species will nest in association with other animals, particularly where available the dams of beavers and also inside the nests of golden eagles.[25] Around three to eight eggs are laid, with the usual number being four to six. Its eggs are cream-coloured, often with a faint bluish-green or turquoise tint, and heavily spotted with reddish brown; they measure, on average, 21×15 mm (0.83×0.59 inches).[26] Both parents incubate the eggs, although the female generally does so for longer and incubates at night. The eggs begin to hatch after 12 days (sometimes as late as 16 days). Both parents feed the chicks until they fledge at around 14 days, and the chicks are fed for another week after fledging.
Though it is known to be a host species for the common cuckoo, the white wagtail typically deserts its nest if it has been parasitised. Scientists theorise that this occurs because the wagtail is too small to push the intruding egg out of the nest, and too short-billed to destroy the egg by puncturing it.[27]
Status
This species has a large range, with an estimated extent of more than 10 million km2 (3.8 million sq mi). The population size is unknown, but it is believed to be large, as the species is described as "common" in at least parts of its range. Population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated to be of least concern.[1] The population in Europe appears to be stable.[20] The species has adapted well to human changes to the environment and has exploited human changes such as man-made structures that are used for nesting sites and increased open areas that are used for foraging.[16] In a number of cities, notably Dublin, large flocks gather in winter to roost.
Roi Et is the province located in the middle part of north east Thailand, and established over 200 years ago. It used to be a very large and glorious city named Saket Nakhon having 11 city gates and 11 satellite cities or subordinated communities under it's ruling. Since there have been several developments in various aspects continuously from the past thus changing it into a strange place where one can hardly trace its original features.
Roi Et is administratively divided into 17 Amphoe's and two King Amphoe's: Muang Roi Et, Kaset Wisai, Pathum Rat, Chaturaphak Phiman, Thawat Buri, Phanom Phrai, Phon Thong, Selaphum, Suwannaphum, At Samat, Nong Phok, Muang Suang, Pho Chai, Phon Sai, Moeiwadi, Amphoe Si Somdet ,Amphoe Janghan, King Amphoe Chiang Khuan, king Amphoe Nong Hee and King Amphoe Tungkao Luang. There are partial areas of four Amphoe's located in Kula Ronghai Field, they are Suwannaphum, Kaset Wisai, Pathum Rat, Phon Sai. Roi Et occupies an area of 8,299.50 square kilometres.
The history of Muang Roi Et started around late Ayutthaya period, i.e., a king of Laos with his people migrated from Champasak City to settle down in the area which is currently Amphoe Suwannaphum. Later, during the reign of King Taksin of Thon Buri era Muang Roi Et was moved to the present site while Muang Suwannaphum is still located at its original location till now. In addition to historical evidences, there have been findings of archaeological evidences showing that the area used to be the habitat of pre-historic people. It was also under the influence of ancient Khmer kingdom due to several findings of Khmer style archaeological sites as Ku Phra Kona, Amphoe Suwannaphum; Ku Kasing, Amphoe Kaset Wisai; Prang Ku, Amphoe Thawatchaburi; etc.
Wat Buraphaphiram It is located in Roi Et city. The third class royal temple was formerly known as Wat Hua Ro and was later renamed as Wat Buraphaphiram. There is the tallest standing Buddha image in Thailand known as Phra Phuttha Rattanamongkhon Mahamuni or Luangpho Yai, which was built with reinforced concrete in the blessing attitude. The Buddha image is 59.2 metres tall and if the base is included, it would be 67.85 metres tall. There is a museum at the base. Luangpho Yai is highly revered by the people of Roi Et.
Somdet Phra Srinakarindra Park, Roi Et It is a public park in the heart of the city, located in front of the city hall. The park was founded in 1986 on an area of 225 rai. It is decorated with a variety of flowers and shady trees. The highlight is the fountain in the middle of the park and a clock tower. There is also a public library. The park is used as a venue for various cultural occasions and events of the province.
The Phra Maha Chedi Chai Mongkol or the Great, Victorious and Auspicious Pagoda is one of the largest Chedi's ( pagoda ) in Thailand. It is located on the grounds of the Wat Pha Namthip Thep Prasit Vararam, a temple complex in Roi Et province in rural North Eastern Thailand. This huge Chedi is 101 meters long, 101 metres wide and 101 metres high and was built on a plot measuring 101 Rai, which is about 40 acres. The number 101 comes from the name of the province it is located in, Roi Et, which means 101 in Thai. The Chedi, which is also known as Phra Maha Chedi Chai Mongkhon is highly revered in Roi Et province, since relics of the Buddha are contained in the top of the pagoda. The fairly new Chedi was designed by the Department of Fine Arts, and was built to serve as a centre of learning for Buddhist monks. The very elegantly shaped Chedi is painted in white colour and very elaborately decorated in golden coloured artwork in modern style. Surrounding the Chedi are eight smaller pagodas. The finial on top of the Chedi is made of 60 kilos of pure gold. The Chedi and temple are located on top of Nam Yoi cliff, from where you will have a wonderful view of the surrounding rural area.
The Interior of the Chedi
The first floor is used for meetings and conferences. The names of the people who donated for the construction of the Chedi are engraved in the wall
The second floor is beautifully decorated with murals, showing scenes from the life of the Buddha
The third floor is used as an Ubosot or ordination hall. The marble images of 101 highly revered
Monks are displayed here
The fourth floor is a museum, where you can learn about the abbot of the temple
The fifth floor contains a staircase to the hall where the relics of the Buddha are enshrined
How to get to Phra Maha Chedi Chai Mongkol; ~
The Phra Maha Chedi Chai Mongkol in the Wat Pha Namthip Thep Prasit Vararam temple complex is located in Nong Phok district, some 80 kilometres from Roi Et town. Getting to the Chedi by public transportation from Roi Et town could be a hassle, by far the most convenient and comfortable option is to hire an air conditioned car with driver to take you there. Most hotels will be able to arrange one for you. Agree on the price before leaving.
Admission & opening hours The Chedi is open daily from 6 am until 5 pm. Entrance fee is 20 Baht per person
migrating the light through water, comes
a radiant plastic sun, split to the heaven
of man made stars, this is the mind as gun powder exploding
Title: "In Between the Countryside and the City"
Creators: Jean-Nicolas Bouchard and Philippe Charest
One of two migrating female American Widgeon on one of the small lakes at our nearby park. Coming out of the heavy shade of the trees into the light with autumn colors reflecting on the lake. Hoping they stay so I can get better photos, this one not the sharpest due to focus issues. Also hoping they attract a male or two as not very likely they will stay long since just passing through. First ones I have seen there in a couple of years.
Preparing collages of items relating to the lectures & show & tell, and the 4pm chat session with follow up phone call took a lot of puzzling time out of day three for me. I was able to get back to my jigsaw in the evening and put in about four hours. This was taken about 10.20pm, when most of the pieces with any bright colour had migrated out of the trays and if not into the image at least they were in play. I had a couple of lumps on the tray but the side edge pieces remained unconsidered. Pride was punished; although I would finish this 'tonight' (12.50am) I was clearly not going to start a fourth jigsaw!
David has made good progress on Kilimanjaro Animals - through grit & determination - completing a hippo and half of the next two rows of animals. Line-cutting along unexpected colour changes with devastating effect, Heather has succeeded in creating a very difficult jigsaw yet kept it at least semi-interlocking. He was heard to utter, 'I've only placed one single piece of zebra', and 'It's a good job this wasn't completely push-fit'.
Every year, on the 1st of November, thousands of geese fly over our country house on their annual migration. this year I captured it on film. You can see dozens of V-shaped formations flying directly overhead, every year, on the same day.
A flock of migrating Brants (Branta bernicla) leaving the San Diego River Basin, at Robb Field in Ocean Beach, CA.
20100218-430
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The stars of the butterflies at the refuge were clearly the migrating monarchs, who won the title by their great numbers alone. While shooting this monarch beauty, I got a few bonuses. The flying insect was to be expected, since it was very ‘buggy’ that day. (I almost believe that the noise I got in some 200 iso shots is gnats...lol ;-) But the buckeye butterfly was a surprise—I didn’t even know I saw any that day (all orange fluttery things were presumed to be monarchs). And the white ‘blossom’ on the left?--that’s a cabbage white butterfly, (keeping my streak of not capturing one in good focus/exposure intact! ;-)
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Bei den Wiener Festwochen hielt ProfX. Alexander Nikolic drei Tage lang ein Seminar im Performeum. Kulinarisch begleitet von der "Migrating Kitchen" (Bacherplatz 1, Wien).
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Hundreds of geese at the Northwestern University lakefill in the dead of winter...I guess the lake is still warm since it's not frozen over yet.
Humpback Whale Breaching
Personal Note: Having moved several years ago to the Monterey Bay Area in Northern California, I decided to teach myself wildlife photography and concentrate on Marine Mammals of the Monterey Bay, which was self-published as a photo essay book. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is one of the most abundant marine sanctuaries in the World with extensive academic research facilities studying its inhabitants and health.
One of the species I have concentrated my efforts on has been the highly intelligent and entertaining Humpback Whale. For two years I am been trying to capture them breaching out of the water. With two flips of their flukes they can propel 35 to 50 tons of mammal completely out of the water! Prior to July 6, 2015 I have only been able to photograph them breaching from a distance.
Over the next two weeks I will be posting a series of images from this incredible experience.
Here are some of the photographic issues:
•They never stop moving, even when they place half of their brain on "rest" while the other half navigates for them. When that half has enough rest, the other half takes over.
•Your Whale Boat is moving about 80% of the time. If the Bay is choppy that means it is rocking back and forth as it propels itself forward.
•Other Whale Boats are positioned around the best sites and can ruin your shot.
•We can tell when a breaching Humpback is going to dive. What we cannot tell is if they are going to keep breaching or just feed on the bottom?
•Normally they breach once or twice and stop. The Blue Ocean Whale Watch boat captain has seen Humpbacks breach as many as 70 times. They are based in Moss Landing and I highly recommend them. You can book a trip at: blueoceanwhalewatch.com/contact.
•Therefore, you do not know how long they are going to stay under the water (5-7 mins. is normal) or WHERE OR WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO COME UP, which is always in a different place.
•I keep my camera under my chin and watch over the top of the lens. Once they start to breach, you have 3-5 seconds to find them in your viewfinder and squeeze off a series of shots. If they are less than 1/3rd of my viewfinder I know they are too far away.
•On the way back to port, three different whales did a "Lunge Feed" in unison just like in the Olympic synchronized swimming events. It was extraordinary, but It took us all by surprise and I could not even raise my camera in time.
•We all know whales communicate with each other, but this was an extraordinary example. The three whales dove together, communicated with each other and then raced to the surface side by side with their mouths wide open! They then captured the sardines, anchovies and or krill, filtered out the water, swallowed and dove again. They can take in enormous amounts of water (up to 70% of their body weight) filter out the fish and krill and eject the water.
•It is hard to describe, but three huge whales surfacing with their mouths open, side-by-side, perfectly in unison takes your breath away. I literally snapped my sunglasses in half during the whole breaching experience, but it was a small price to pay. If anyone had gotten a sharp image of these three whales, it would have been a cover story.
•Humpback whales (belong to the class of marine mammals known as rorquals that feed through extraordinarily energetic lunges during which they engulf large volumes of water equal to as much as 70% of their body mass. (Source: Marine Mammal Science)
For those of you that would like to know more about these incredible creatures please read below or visit the source: (www.marinemammalcenter.org/)
HUMPBACK WHALE: Megaptera novaeangliae (meaning of scientific name: (Large-Winged of New England)
BEHAVIOR: Acrobatic humpbacks regularly breach (jump out of the water), stroke each other, and slap the water with their flippers and flukes. Scientists believe these activities are forms of communication because they create a great deal of noise, which can be heard at long distances under water. Humpbacks swim in groups or pods of up to a dozen at calving grounds, and in smaller groups of three to four during migration. Unlike other baleen whales, they can often be seen feeding cooperatively.
DESCRIPTION: The humpback whale was given its common name because of the shape of its dorsal (back) fin and the way it looks when the animal is diving. Its scientific name, Megaptera, means, "large-winged" and refers to its long, white, wing-like flippers that are often as long as one-third of the animal's body length. Humpbacks are gray or black, except for the flippers, parts of the chest and belly, and sometimes the underside of the tail flukes. Each whale has its own unique pattern on the underside of its tail flukes, which can be used like "fingerprints" to identify individual whales. Unique to humpbacks are wartlike round protuberances (bumps or tubricales) that occur on the head forward of the blowhole and on the edges of the flippers. Humpbacks are baleen whales that have 14 to 35 long throat pleats that expand when the whale takes in water while feeding.
Northern Hemisphere humpbacks reach an average length of 49 to 52 feet (15-16 m), and southern humpbacks reach 60 feet (18 m). Females are generally larger than the males. The average weight for a mature adult is 35 to 50 tons.
RANGE/HABITAT: Humpbacks are found in all oceans to the edges of polar ice, and follow definite migration paths from their summer feeding grounds to warmer waters in the winter. In the North Pacific, where their populations reach 15,000, humpbacks feed in the summer along the coast from California to Alaska. In the winter, they migrate to breeding grounds off of Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Japan. The population in California migrates to Mexico and Costa Rica, whereas the Alaskan population migrates to Hawaii.
In feeding, they use baleen plates to strain other small fish such as krill or herring, and plankton out of the water. Their 270-to-400 baleen plates are dark and each is about two and a half feet long. Humpbacks use several different feeding methods. While "lunge feeding," they plow through concentrated areas of food with their huge mouths open, swelling with large quantities of food and water. During "bubble net feeding," which is unique to humpback whales, one or several whales blow a ring of bubbles from their blowholes that encircle a school of krill or fish. The whales then swim through the "net" with their mouths agape, taking in large amounts of food.
Humpbacks are best known for their haunting vocalizations or "singing." They have a rich repertoire that covers many octaves and includes frequencies beyond the threshold of human hearing. These songs, apparently sung by males, last as long as 20 minutes, after which they are repeated, often with slight changes. Each year, the song undergoes changes from the year before, but all males sing the same song. When a whale is singing, it floats suspended in the water, head down and relatively motionless. Behavior such as dominance, aggression, and mate attraction may be related to singing.
MATING AND BREEDING: Females give birth every two or more years. Pregnancies last for 12 months. The calves nurse for eight to eleven months. When weaned, the calves are 24-27 feet (8-9 m) long.
STATUS: Humpbacks are among the most endangered whales and less than 10% of their original population remains. However, in recent years, humpbacks have been observed more and more frequently feeding along the California coast. Nearly 1400 humpbacks feed along the California Coast in the summer and fall. The current word population is estimated between 35-40,000.
The Marine Mammal Center has helped several humpback whales over the years. One famous patient was Humphrey the humpback, who we helped twice. First in 1985, he swam up the Sacramento River, and then in 1990 he was stuck on a mudflat in San Francisco Bay. Both times, we successfully got him back out into ocean. In 2007, a mother and calf pair called Delta and Dawn, received world-wide attention as they swam 75 miles inland up the Sacramento River (going farther than Humphrey). Both had severe wounds from a ship strike. After antibiotics were administered to these free-swimming whales, a first in marine mammal history mom and calf returned to the ocean.