Grey Wagtail

The Grey Wagtail is a slender, elegant bird with a proportionately longer tail than any other European wagtail, a feature that is constantly wagged as the bird forages along rocks and streamside vegetation. Despite its name emphasising grey, its most eye-catching feature is bright yellow underparts, which become especially vivid and lemon-yellow under the tail.

Breeding males add a neat black bib to the yellow throat, framed by a clean white moustachial stripe, while the back and head remain blue-grey year-round. Females and non-breeding birds lack the black bib but retain the same long tail and yellow underparts.

More than any other wagtail, this species is closely tied to fast-flowing water, favouring rocky streams, weirs, and waterfalls where it darts after insects disturbed by the rushing current.

Key field marks

• Blue-grey upperparts contrasting with bright yellow underparts
• Exceptionally long tail relative to body size, constantly wagged
• Black bib in breeding males, framed by a white moustachial stripe
• Bright lemon-yellow undertail coverts, vivid even in non-breeding plumage
• Pinkish legs

Similar species

• Western Yellow Wagtail: shorter tail, olive-green (not blue-grey) upperparts, and typically found in wet grassland and farmland rather than fast-flowing streams.
• White/Pied Wagtail: black, white, and grey plumage with no yellow underparts, and a shorter tail relative to body size.
• No other European wagtail combines a blue-grey back, bright yellow underparts, and such an exceptionally long tail.

Grey Wagtails breed across much of Europe and Asia, strongly associated with fast-flowing, well-oxygenated streams and rivers, particularly in upland and hilly areas, as well as weirs, mill races, and waterfalls where turbulent water supports abundant aquatic insect life.

Outside the breeding season, many individuals move to lower elevations and a wider range of watery habitats, including lowland rivers, canals, sewage works, and urban water features, sometimes turning up well away from the fast streams used for breeding.

Some northern and upland populations are partial migrants, moving south or to milder lowland and coastal areas for winter, while others remain resident near their breeding streams year-round.

Voice

The call is a sharp, metallic "tzi-tzi" or "chit-ik," often given in flight and audible over the sound of rushing water. The song is a simple, rapid extension of the call notes, delivered from a rock or nearby perch.

Feeding

Grey Wagtails feed on insects and other small invertebrates, caught by darting along rocks, bobbing at the water's edge, and making short aerial sallies to snatch insects flushed by the moving water, including aquatic larvae emerging near the surface.

Nesting and breeding

The nest is a cup of grass and moss tucked into a crevice near water, such as a rock ledge, wall, or bridge structure close to the stream. Clutches typically contain four to six eggs.