Wagtails skating on thin ice

We have had a few cold nights recently with frost and ice on puddles.  On a cold afternoon I noticed this pied wagtail (Motacilla alba) hunting on the ice.

It is a pity I didn't shoot a video as it was struggling to keep its feet.

Then I noticed a grey wagtail (Motacilla) a metre away on the ice.

It was also slip slidin' away, as Paul Simon would say.

I was surprised there was anything there for them to eat.

But then the grey wagtail found an enormous caterpillar.  Quite what that was doing in the ice I don't know.

Friendly wagtails

I met these pied wagtails on the beach at Druridge Bay.  They were happy to pose for a few photos and I noticed they were all female.  The males stay to defend territories in the winter but females and first winter males go around in flocks.

Bird of the week - Pied wagtail

These two pied wagtails have been very frequent visitors to the garden in the past three or four weeks so I presume they will nest in the garden or nearby.  They do use open-fronted nest boxes so I'll have to keep an eye out to see if they are in one of mine.  The female has been here less over the past week so I suspect she may already be sitting on eggs.

The male bird is in his finest clerical black and white.

The female is similarly coloured but with a grey back.

The pied wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) is a fairly common bird with about 1m birds in the UK in the summer.

Pied wagtails tend to move south in the winter and some migrate to Europe or even North Africa.

Thomas Bewick called it the black and white water wagtail.  He wrote "The Wagtail is said by some authors to migrate into other climates about the end of October; with us it is known to change its quarters as the winter approaches, from north to south.  Its note is small and insignificant, but frequently repeated, especially while on the wing.".  Here is his engraving from A History of British Birds published in 1797.

Listen to the BBC Radio 4 Tweet of the Day on pied wagtail here.

Bird of the week - Pied wagtail

The pied wagtail is a distinctive dark-backed race of the white wagtail, Motacilla alba.  Found mainly in the British Isles it is Motacilla alba yarellii.  The origin of the wagtail's name is obvious but the reason they wag their tails is not known. They hunt insects just above the ground, usually on foot, and seem to prefer paved areas.  Here they are usually on the drive or the roof of the house.  Pied wagtails gather in large numbers to roost, naturally in reedbeds, but they also favour man-made structures such as hospitals, stations and supermarkets.

Listen to the BBC Tweet of the Day on pied wagtail here.  Watch a video of pied wagtails roosting at Heathrow terminal 5 here.  Read more than you will ever need to know about pied and white wagtails here.

End of year favourites - Birds in my garden

Birds of the week - Black and white

All the birds on the beach at Newbiggin by the Sea this morning seemed to be in Newcastle colours.  They included oystercatcher, grey plover, eider, sanderling, and pied wag (that's a wagtail with no tail!).