Citrine Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

                       Introduction of Citrine Wagtail

           Citrine Wagtail ( Scientific Name : Motacilla citreola) is a small passerine bird which is a local resident of Himalayas and widespread winter visitor in India.  It is also known as  Yellow-hooded Wagtail. It is called "citrine" due  to its yellowish coloration.

                             How to Identify Citrine Wagtail

          It is slender in shape and about 19-20 cm long and weight is approx. 18-25 g. It is easily recognized due to the habits of constantly wagging of its long tail which is a characteristic of the genus Motacilla.  Breeding male has bright yellow head and underpart, contrasting with black collar and gray back. Hindneck and upper mantle are black, extending onto the sides of the breast. The rump is darker grey and the The long tail is black with white outer pairs of rectrices. The undertail-coverts are paler, mostly yellowish white.  The bill is black. The eyes are dark brown. Legs and feet are blackish-brown.
         The non-breeding male is duller, with grey to dark olive-grey hindcrown to mantle and scapulars. It may show light dark mottling above and the yellow areas are paler.
         The adult female Citrine Wagtail is looks like to non-breeding male. Except the breeding season, she is duller overall with greyer upperparts. The yellow areas are paler, breast sides and flanks are grey but the belly is whiter.
         The young Citrine Wagtail  resembles juvenile Western Yellow Wagtail, but it has broader supercilium, broader and whiter wingbars and whitish secondary’s edges, not yellowish.
The immature lacks yellow in plumage and is more buff and greyer than non-breeding female, with breast sides and flanks tinged olive-brown.

                                Habits and Habitats

          Natural habitats is variety of moist areas with pools and streams, brackish lagoons and coastal marshes during nonbreeding season.
                     Food
         Main food of  Citrine Wagtail  is aquatic invertebrates and their larvae e.g Odonata ,Coleoptera, Diptera  and spiders.
         It forages by picking items from ground or water surface, and it wades in shallow water up to belly, or walks on floating leaves and vegetation. It also hunts the preys disturbed by cattle by walking around and between the legs of the animals. While picking, the bird may sometimes plunge the head into the water while searching for insect larvae.
         It also catches insects by flycatching, or catch then in flight with a brief upwards flutter.
This species breeds from sea-level up to 4600 metres of elevation.
                     Distribution
         The Citrine Wagtail has three recognized subspecies as below:

        M. c. citreola  or Northern Citrine Wagtail are found in  North  Europe (Finland, N Russia) East to Central Siberia, Transbaikalia, Mongolia and North-East China. In winters, they are found mainly in Indian Subcontinent, also South-East Asia.
       M.c. werae breeds in East Europe, in S Baltic Republics and East Poland, Belarus and Ukraine E to Russian Altai, North and East of  Kazakhstan and North-West China. It winters it is found in Indian Subcontinent and South-East Asia.
In this race, the male has purer grey back than M. c. citreola, the underparts are paler and the flanks less grey.
       M. c. calcarata or Southern Citrine Wagtail are distributed in East Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asian mountains from Tien Shan East to Central China  and South to North Himalayas. In winters they are found in lowlands from South Afghanistan East to Myanmar. In this species, the male has all-black upperparts. Head and underparts are deeper yellow and extend to the undertail-coverts. The tertials show broader and whiter edges, and the greater coverts are usually white. The outer rectrices have more black on inner webs. The female may have dark spots on the upperparts, and she has longer bill and legs.
                        Call
            The Citrine Wagtail’s typical call resembles that of the Western Yellow Wagtail but it is harsher, louder and slightly shorter, a more rasping, slurred “dzreeip” or “tzreep”. It utters sometimes a double “zielip”.
The song is usually given from perch or during short flight, a repeated calling interspersed with warbling phrases.
                        Food
            The Citrine Wagtail feeds mainly on aquatic invertebrates and their larvae, including Odonata (adult and larvae), Coleoptera (beetle larvae), Diptera (adult and larvae), and spiders.
It forages by picking items from ground or water surface, and it wades in shallow water up to belly, or walks on floating leaves and vegetation. It also hunts the preys disturbed by cattle by walking around and between the legs of the animals. While picking, the bird may sometimes plunge the head into the water while searching for insect larvae.
It also catches insects by flycatching, or snatches then in flight with a brief upwards flutter.

                                  Breeding and Nesting

              The Citrine Wagtail breeds in wet meadows, marshy tundra with willow thickets, mountain meadows and generally in wet areas including marshes and edges of lakes. This species breeds from sea-level up to 4600 metres of elevation.The Citrine Wagtail is monogamous and territorial during the breeding season. It can become very aggressive against intruders during breeding season and shows aggressive  displays. They body  puff up their body plumage and raise the tail  and direct it towards intruders.
             The male performs a courtship flight display. They fly into the air before descending while singing. During the descent, wings and tail are vibrating. Other displays can be observed with quivering outspread wings. Both adults share the nesting duties.
             The breeding season takes place between late April and June in N, mostly May/August in SE for the race M.c. calcarata. Two broods are usually laid.
              The female builds a cup-shaped nest on the ground or in thick vegetation with moss, leaves and stems, and the cup is lined with softer material such as feathers, hair and wool. Most entrances faced south-east. The mean external diameter of nests is 10.1 cm, the internal diameter is 6.3 wide and 6.8 cm long  and the mean depth of cup is 3.9 cm.
              Female lays 4-6 eggs which are  14.16 mm wide  and  18.40 mm long.  Both parents incubate during two weeks and participate equally in feeding the chicks. During the first few days the female stayed at the nest longer than the male. After 6 days, average duration of a visit in the nest for both parents shortened to several seconds. Hatchlings are fed 5 times per hour on the day of hatching which gradually increase to more than 20 times per hour in the last days in the nest.The chicks fledge about 13-15 days after hatching.