Western Yellow Wagtail

Motacilla flava

The western yellow wagtail is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of temperate Europe and Asia. Most populations are migratory, moving south to tropical Africa and southern Asia for the winter; the small population breeding in Egypt is however resident there. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 14,006 times across 50 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Western Yellow Wagtail on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 14°C (typically 11 to 19°C, from 18 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 38°N in March to 66°N in June, about 3,200 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.