Things you need to know about the PIED WAGTAIL!
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- čas přidán 22. 12. 2021
- What do pied wagtails eat? Where do they nest? How long do they live for?
All that and more in this short pied wagtail fact-file.
Here is the script I wrote for the video:
A carpark might seem like a strange place to start a wildlife fact file, but the reason for this is simple, Urban pied wagtails have made a name for themselves as carpark dwellers. These black and white birds are a sub species of the white wagtail which is found across most of Europe, northern Africa, Asia and even occasionally breeds in western Alaska. They have a wingspan of up to 30cm, grow to weigh just 27 grams and their most notable feature is their constantly wagging tail. There have been a few suggestions for why they do this including communicating with one another and for flushing out insects but the leading theory is that its a signal to predators that they are healthy and alert and will get away if chased.
In southern England they don't migrate large distances but can move to good feeding areas such as farmland during the colder months. For the rest of the year they can be found in pretty much any open habitat including parks, beaches, wasteland areas and along fresh water courses. Those birds from the more northern part of the county do migrate in colder years and have been known to travel as far as Africa to spend the winter.
For the most part a pied wagtails diet is made up of insects and they are particularly fond of flies which they expertly snatch from the air. They will however also feed on seeds and scraps where invertebrates are in short supply.
Nesting starts from mid April when the female alone creates a nest of twigs, grass, dead leaves and moss lined with hair wool and feathers. These are often in rock cervices, hollow trees or holes in walls but they will also nest directly on the ground or sometimes on top of the abandoned nests of other birds. The female will then lay five or six speckled blue white eggs which the pair share the incubation of for 12 to 14 days. After the chicks hatch, both parents feed them in the nest until they fledge at around 2 weeks of age. After fledging the lighter coloured young birds follow their parents around, constantly begging for food. This lasts for a further 2 to 3 weeks after which point the young move out of the territory and the parents start nesting again. Each pair can have 2 to three broods in a year although those in upland areas may only attempt to nest once per season.
Pied wagtails have had a long history alongside people and as such have developed several nicknames over the years, these include penny and polly dishwasher. Its thought this was given to them as they would often be seen in the same areas where people would wash their pots and pans before most homes had running water. In the winter in urban areas, pied wagtails can form really large overnight roosts of upto 3000 birds. Unfortunately I cant show you this as there are no copyright free images but its worth a google. There are currently around 470,000 breeding pairs of pied wagtails in the UK and they are one of the few species whose numbers are actually increasing here. In the wild they have an average lifespan of 2 years but one bird was recorded at 11 years and three months of age.
Some of the images and footage used in this video were obtained using creative commons licences. The originals and their licence details can be found at:
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• White Wagtail in 4K
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• Птенцы трясогузки
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Pied wagtails are adorable!
Cheers!
Ikr! Their little cheeps! 😍 I love them! I get 1 in my garden each day. He’s the only one who’s visited my garden since living here. ( we’re a new build)
I love pied wagtails. I love watching them hop around wagging their tails
I affectionately call them the Lesser Pied Carpark Bird! Delighted to know it's a commonly observed trait of theirs to frequent carparks
Haha, you are not the first person to comment on this video saying you call them car park birds of some sort :)
Wagtails are my favorite birds, they are incredible, I have one at home. In 2019 he was 5 days old when he fell in our ventilation...
I live in Israel. Every September, I meet the first Wagtail, just after first drops of rain... This tiny bird, give me
a lot of courage, not to be so afraid of the rain and cold in winter. I think yo myself, if this little creature is so brave, it ignores the winds and storms, so easily just gets on with life, then I must be strong too, to survive, and even enjoy getting out, walking in the rain, and it's really so refreshing. Every year the same. By April and May, the sun is back, sky bright, and all of
a sudden, I remember, only yesterday the Wagtail was by a pond nearby, like wisling to him/herself, pick up something to eat, quickly fly away, and that's it... Wagtail is gone somewhere abroad... Be back only next Autumn.
And soon the spring will come
Some years ago I worked as a communications officer for the police at Launceston in Cornwall, our control room had a little square are outside it, surrounded on four sides with a huge shrub in the middle of it. Hundreds of pied wagtails would roost in it at nights and share the long night shift with us just beyond the glass. Amazing little birds, by day they would be in the police station car park.
One thing I’ve noticed about them as well as grey wagtails is how bold they are. I’ve seen them get stalked by cats and other predators and they don’t even seem bothered. Often I have to open a window to get them to fly away before they get caught. Most other birds would fly away immediately at the sight of a predator, but wagtails seem to prefer not to
Magpies don't seem to care either and seem to like to tease would-be predators and other territorial birds.
I remember seeing hundred if not thousands of Penny Wagtails roosting in the trees outside the old Pilchard sports shop on Gentleman’s Walk in Norwich back in the 80’s also remember watching them on the school playground instead of looking at the blackboard lol another great film Liam :-)
My favourite bird. Resilient. Friendly. Full of character.
What a coincidence! Had one in the garden today which is quite a rarity. Love the videos
I've just returned from a week doing jobs at our beach hut and the site is nearly empty. The pied wagtails, along with robins, have learnt that a car parked outside a hut means that there are people there and they hang about waiting for scraps. One would turn up at first light hoping for left over bits of a full English breakfast and toast crumbs. He would sit on the fence for most of the day if I gave him food. After a few days,the sparrows caught on and I even had a big crow looking for toast crusts.
Another great show Liam, these are my favourite little Bird , we have some in our garden. When I used to live in London there was a pair and that lived in Sainsbury's car park next to Greggs & they were. Certainly the plumpest pair I've ever seen . PEACE and LOVE to EVERYONE.
How lovely, I don't think I've ever seen a plump wagtail 🤣 I bet they love being near Gregg's 🥳
I've never seen pied wagtail chicks in the nest - they are extremely cute! Thanks for another informative video!
Great timing, I saw one these yesterday in a car park. It was so cute and chirpy, thanks for your video, it's nice to get to know more about them! :-)
Ha ha! Hmmm..., I wonder whose brilliant idea it was for you to do a video about the Pied Wagtail? 🤔 Have a great Christmas buddy and a happy healthy 2022 to you and yours. 🎄🙂🎄
Cheers Graham. It was a good suggestion, turns out there isn't that much footage available of them so I had to do a few local trips to find and film some in order to keep my promise lol. Merry Christmas mate!
There used to be very large roosts of this bird in the Hayes in central Cardiff. They used to cover the trees in winter, before the area was redeveloped.
Spotted a pair nesting in the builders supplies department of a branch of B&Q. 👍
Thanks for another great video Liam. Never heard the UK nicknames previously. Here in Ireland they are so often referred to as 'Willy Wagtails' , so much so that some folk think that is their actual name .
Love your channel Liam! As an avid American birdwatcher,I love seeing birds there in the UK AND always learn something new. Cheers and best wishes from Michigan!
🌹💕🌹
I’ve seen these often….in car parks,they’re unafraid of us humans till we get a little too near.I never knew they were Pied Wagtails.Thank you!
Liam, love your channel. Brilliant content. And good to hear another Norfolk accent on CZcams! Merry Christmas!
Thanks, I appreciate your support. I keep noticing my accent getting more and more Norfolk, I don't mind though. Merry Christmas :)
Lovely little birds. I always watch them in car parks.
Great video! There's a pied wagtail I always see in the same spot next to a river near me. Looking forward to seeing what you make videos on during 2022
Interesting, my parents in Cornwall would call them Dishwashers and as I grew up I didn’t carry on with the name because I thought it was just something they made up and no one would know what I was talking about, I’m 74 so you learn something new everyday. 👍
One of my favourite birds to watch...in the car park of course.. :)
Great film Liam. 👏👏👏. So many interesting facts here. I never knew they migrated from colder temperatures!! Great stuff mate and some wonderful clips there.
Have a wonderful Christmas 🎅🎅🎅🎉🎉🎉
Dave H
Thanks Dave! It was news to me as well but that's the great thing about making these videos, I learn something new every time as well. Merry Christmas :)
@@AShotOfWildlife it’s great isn’t it. I’m learning so much too 👍👍👍👍
I had no idea there were things I needed to know about the pied wagtail but I've definitely enjoyed finding them out. I stumbled across your channel a few days ago so this is only the 3rd video I've seen. I'm finding them hugely enjoyable, so thank you for posting them. 👍
i kept hearing a bird singing at night and had no idea what it was. the next day outside the mall, i saw a pied wagtail, 2 of them and thought they were amazing. it was my first time seeing them…wouldn’t you know after googling, THAT was the bird i heard 😊 i saw a single bird across from my house
bout 2 weeks ago and i kept hearing em sing last night
and guess what?! FULL MOON…i love this bird ❤
What a terrific video ..I really like these little birds and you've made my day with good news re their numbers .Such determined little birds :) 👍👏🏻 Best wishes for a very happy holiday ⭐..Look forward to your next ..Helena
Hi Helena. Thanks again for all your support over the last few months and hopefully I can continue to entertain and educate you next year. Have a great Christmas!
@@AShotOfWildlife You have a terrific personality ..Have a happy Christmas
They are *very* easy to spot in my town mall supermarket in particular compared to any other place. I've never seen one in a open spaces like a park or garden, always the most in my built up street market!
That's great. I had decided to make this video thinking I could easily go and film some near to me but it ended up being a bit of a challenge. That's always the way with wildlife, it's never where you need it to be and always where you don't expect it. Thanks for leaving a comment and have a great weekend.
I used to get them when I lived in London
Thank you so much and Merry Christmas
That is such a funny coincidence. I parked outside B&Q today and saw one of these and had no idea what kind of bird it was. There was a gabion wall (a wall out of rocks within a wire cage) at the edge of the car park and he was flying into a hole in there. Maybe he'd nested in there. Beautiful bird.
Learning so much from these videos, thanks Liam! Have a good Christmas :)
Thanks Adi. I have a lot more species lined up so hopefully I'll be able to keep providing the goods! Merry Christmas :)
Friendly & quirky little creatures ...❤
Thank you so much for all the information!
I love the wagtails. Bold birds hopping around in town. Thank you Liam for sharing your knowledge with us
Nice video.
Merry Christmas to you
Jacq 🎄🙋♀️🎄
Brilliant video, love these birds
Beautiful footage.Thank you for sharing.
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing the Pied Wagtail facts and have a good Christmas holiday Liam! // Bertil.🎅
Liam, I love your series. Thank you.
Thank you. There are loads more videos to come so stay tuned :)
Beautiful soundtrack and very good images
Polish proverb:
Każda pliszka swój ogonek chwali
Google translation of this comes out as "Each wagtail praises its tail" which appears to mean that everyone emphasises their best features.
Great video
I had a wagtail in my garden only in one winter. It was really funny as it spent most of the time chasing other birds (except starlings) so it had no time to get food because after clearing one spot birds appeared elsewhere and Mr wagtail immediately chased them…
Great Vid!
This is one of my favourite birds here in the UK, and I love how they live alongside us, they are a pretty little bird and really animated. I know they are no Corvid, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they are fairly intelligent as birds go.
A relative of mine (a bird person) was the one who informed me of their name. I often used to see them darting about on the pavement, on my way up to the shops.
When I hear the word "wagtail" a little rhyme comes into my head - don't have any idea where I learned it, I just know I've known it for decades. It goes ", Little trotty wagtail, he went in the rain,
And tittering, tottering sideways he ne’er got straight again.
He stooped to get a worm, and looked up to catch a fly,
And then he flew away ere his feathers they were dry"
Evey time I think about uk animal 'you always bring a video out about it a couple of days late hahah. It's happened a few times now . Cool little birds I seen one of these the other day but didn't no the name .👍✌
Watching this video for the second time - I love these little birds and was actually watching a pair yesterday afternoon in the Fosse Park area of Leicester where I walk my dog there's quite a few to be seen in the summer months and they tend to spend a lot of time around the floor and on the roof of Jenno's coffee shop and would imagine with its warm extraction vents is a great place for these little birds to keep warm especially in the temperatures we're experiencing as I write this on the 08/12/2022 - Loving these videos Kindest regards Andy
Just love that little 🐦 you're a mine of knowledge
I love them.Wonderful little survivors🥰
Great vid, Merry Christmas 🎄
Cheers! Merry Christmas to you too.
They are seriously cute birds but I still think Robins win the cuteness competition.
Great little video! I watched it because we have a few round our house here in central Sutherland in the far north of Scotland during late spring and summer. They are so interesting to watch and one often comes around the back of our house seeming to say hello to us through the patio doors as we sit in the back living room of an evening😁 I am sure they migrate to warmer climes from here in the winter!
Thanks Debbie. They are interesting little birds. I expect they just migrate out of built up areas further into the countryside for winter.
If you liked this video, there might be some other videos on this channel which you'll enjoy :)
They're all over the place. I first learned what they were called form a friend on a golf course. They have to be amongst the most common birds.
In Australia we have the Willie wagtail, a very fiesty & fun little bird. Not afraid to chase & swoop on much larger birds who come to close to their nests.
My favourite bird
Cool. They are interesting little birds!
Thank you so much 🌻
You're welcome! Cheers!
Fortunately, I see a fair few in my garden. I'm happy about that.
Thank you
Very good channel . subscribed
Thanks
Get a lot of these in our front garden, lovely little birds (North Lincolnshire)
Thank You For The Video Greaaaaaaat!!
Cheers!
Lol I've only ever seen them at like retail parks and car parks and I always wondered why that was!
Where I work, in south east uk, there is over 100 that settle on 1 specific tree at sundown. Its really noisey until they settle for the night. My Dad called them Paddy Wagtails.
Thank for the info. Here in Valletta Malta 🇲🇹 we have a healthy flock of around 10.000 white wagtails that are counted yearly. Sometimes close to 12.000 are observed. My birdlife friends meet in January every year and count them while coming in to roost. These are wintering birds as they Don't breed here. Thanks.
Thanks Liam Your a "Diamond Geezer". Suscribed.
John smiths brewery roof in winter regularly attracts 2000 plus roosting pied wags , spectacular well worth a winter walk
Where abouts is that? I'll add it to my list for this winter.
@@AShotOfWildlife tadcaster North Yorkshire
I love your videos, Liam-they're so informative! I love these little birds. During the 'beast from the east' one practically lived in our garden, and I did my best to keep him going with suet pellets.
One darted and flew across in front of our car the other day (thankfully missing it) and my relative said it reminded him of a little golf ball.
I'm hooked on these videos I'm sure I will run out way I'm going..,
Love your video presentations I find them so informative and educational and helps me to realise just how loving our creator God is when we see his wonderful works. Thank you so much.
I am a Brit living in Thailand and see many Pied Wagtails here, a common wild bird, along with Sparrows, Pidgeons and Mina birds ( our Starlings ), same family.
The lil bird is one of my favourite.
We even got a folktale in our culture. In Nagaland,India.
Thanks for sharing about the beautiful birdie😇🙌
Lovely little bird...once saw one shed a butterfly of its wings in mid flight and swallow its body all in a split second.
Mt Father, from the fens, called them water wagtails 😀
There is a large winter roost in the grounds of Wishaw General Hospital,South Lanarkshire.
I have a pair in my garden. I feed them Mealworms which they take to their young. They arrive from the same direction so I guess they are the same pair as the last two years. They are quite tame and will sit on the Birdbath outside my kitchen waiting to be fed. I do notice that they are quite aggressive towards Robins and Sparrows although all defer to the Starlings
I have a pair of pied wagtails who just love a bit of cheese which is very finely chopped
Happy Christmas Liam, liking your videos, keep em coming for the new year. regards Norfolkngood
Excellent video but always wondered why they fly up and down ?
Most of the time they are doing it to catch flying insects but it might also be down to courtship/territorial claims.
Pied wagtails like to roost in our chemical plant during springtime. Its warmer there. Often in their hundreds. We can literally pick them up while they sleep.
we have then in our garden they will come right up to back door with no fear
Wherever I see pied wagtails, they all look like each other, but quite a lot different from the pied wagtails I see in other locations. I don’t see this variation with other birds. Anybody know why this happens?
Wow.. You have 1-2 waigtails? i need need brother..please
🎄HAPPY DAY 🎄
Thanks.
Little waggy wagtail.
the cape wagtail inspired the Silver Dasher minion in FFXIV!
You forgot to mention that they are also migratory birds here in Israel they are only here in the winter and leave when summer comes ( maybe im talking about another species of wagtail )
☆♡☆
We call them Willy Wagtails in Ireland 😁
We have them always outside my local shop on the pavement what they are finding there who noes
Apparently they like picking insects off car bumpers so if there is parking there, this could explain it. Cheers
You left out the fact that every bowling green seems to have a resident wagtail.
Does the bowling club have a wagtail, or does the wagtail have a bowling club ?? 🤔
I think they wag there tail because it’s like a twitch or a habit
*in scotland btw 😊
These are so cute I wanna keep one and just feed him flies😂😂 I wouldn’t keep one though just for my pleasure, they deserve to be free.. also why do flies fly around the bird.. don’t flies communicate like ‘jerry those birds are my bridge stay clear’😂😂
They are sweet"but"not when they sit on the wing mirror on my car and poop"hahaha.🙄🙄🙄🙄"cheeky little thing".
Tough life being a bird
Bu kuşun cinsi akkuyruk sallayan
Maybe remove the "everything" as you leave so much information out.....
Yeah, I have changed my intros now. Free to add anything you think I should've included though :)
My favourite bird. Sainsbury's car park by me has several. They're amazing