Wagtails
Motacilla
The wagtails are a genus, Motacilla, of passerine bird. The forest wagtail belongs to the monotypic genus Dendronanthus which is closely related to Motacilla and sometimes included herein. The common name and genus names are derived from their characteristic tail pumping behaviour. Together with the pipits and longclaws they form the family Motacillidae.
16 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 13 known species
White Wagtail
speciesMotacilla alba
Grey Wagtail
speciesMotacilla cinerea
Western Yellow Wagtail
speciesMotacilla flava
Citrine Wagtail
speciesMotacilla citreola
Cape Wagtail
speciesMotacilla capensis
Eastern Yellow Wagtail
speciesMotacilla tschutschensis
African Pied Wagtail
speciesMotacilla aguimp
Japanese Wagtail
speciesMotacilla grandis
White-browed Wagtail
speciesMotacilla maderaspatensis
Mountain Wagtail
speciesMotacilla clara
Madagascar Wagtail
speciesMotacilla flaviventris
Mekong Wagtail
speciesMotacilla samveasnae
Citrine × Western Yellow Wagtail
hybridMotacilla citreola × flava
White × Gray Wagtail
hybridMotacilla alba × cinerea
São Tomé Shorttail
speciesMotacilla bocagii
Motacilla aguimp × alba
hybridMotacilla aguimp × alba
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
History of Animals, Book I: On Viviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1554 · p.779
History of Animals, Book I: On Viviparous Quadrupeds
Conrad Gessner · 1554 · p.780
Historiae Animalium Liber III: De Avium Natura
Conrad Gesner · 1555 · p.634
Historiae Animalium Liber III: De Avium Natura
Conrad Gesner · 1555 · p.635
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Motacilla in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 13686.