Wagtails & Pipits

Western Yellow Wagtail

Schafstelze

Motacilla flava

Wagtails & Pipits6 photosFirst seen: 4 September 2026

The Western Yellow Wagtail is a slim ground-feeding wagtail that breeds across much of Europe and western Asia and winters mainly in Africa. Its many regional forms differ strongly in head pattern, while all share yellow underparts and an olive-toned back.

ID tip: Compared with White Wagtail it is shorter-tailed, olive above and yellow below. The exact head pattern varies by subspecies, so structure, call and the yellow underparts are often more useful than head colour alone.

First seen: 4 September 2026 · Lake Skadar · 6 photos in the collection.

Places in my records

Locations where this species is supported by a dated first record, an unambiguous single-place outing or a reviewed assignment.

Lake Skadar4 September 2026

Family: Wagtails & Pipits (Motacillidae)
Length: 15–16 cm
Wingspan: 23–27 cm
Regional status: Summer visitor (Montenegro)
Conservation: Least Concern LCIUCN Red List · retrieved 5 September 2026
Habitat: Wet meadows, marsh edges, pastures, farmland and lake margins
Diet: Small insects and other invertebrates

Built from verified occurrence records, not drawn by hand. Core range = the countries holding 99% of all records; the rest are scattered or vagrant records. Record counts track where people watch birds as much as where the birds are, so the map shows presence, not abundance. Data: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). Basemap: Natural Earth.

Western Yellow Wagtail

Places in my records

Selected photographs