Yellow wagtail

The yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is a slim and graceful bird that is recognisable from its bright yellow summer colouring and its characteristic running movements with tail and head wagging.

Distribution and habitat

The yellow wagtail spends its winters in tropical and southern Africa and its summers in Europe, where it can be seen virtually anywhere except Ireland and Iceland. In the United Kingdom it is found mostly in England (apart from the far southwest) and eastern Wales. Its habitat is mainly water meadows, pastures and boggy moorland. It is often present where cattle are grazing, as it likes to feed on insects that breed in cattle dung, although not exclusively so.

Loss of habitat would appear to be the main reason for the decline of yellow wagtail numbers in Great Britain since the 1980s, which is why the bird is on the red list of endangered species.

Description

The yellow wagtail is some 16-17 centimetres (6.5 inches) in length. Males have bright yellow underparts in summer, and are yellowy-green on top. The colouring of female yellow wagtails is less bright, with the green colouring tending more towards brown than on the males. In winter, male yellow wagtails more closely resemble the females. The legs are black.

There are a number of distinct subspecies of yellow wagtail, with the differences being most clearly seen in the colouring of the head feathers. The most common subspecies seen in the United Kingdom is “flavissima”, which has a bright yellow forecrown and supercilia (stripes above the eyes) and is yellow-green on the main crown and cheeks. Other varieties include blue-headed (“flava”), grey-headed (“thunbergi”), black-headed (“feldegg”), ashy-headed (“cinereocapilla”) and white-headed (“leucocephala”).

Behaviour

The yellow wagtail has a markedly undulating flight although it spends most of its time on the ground, walking or running with tail wagging and head darting to and fro. It will sometimes flutter into the air or perch on a fence, wire or bush. When not nesting, the yellow wagtail is a gregarious bird and it will roost communally, with sometimes as many as a thousand birds flocking in reedbeds near ponds and lakes.

Food for yellow wagtails consists of beetles, caterpillars, spiders and small molluscs.

The yellow wagtail has a loud “twee-ipp” call and a short irregular warble. The call can be heard on the appropriate page of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) website.

Breeding

Yellow wagtails return to their breeding grounds in late March or early April, when they form smaller flocks that later break up as pairs form to establish nesting territories that are vigorously defended by the male birds. A nest is built by the female yellow wagtail on the ground in May or June. This comprises a structure of grass stems lined with soft material such as animal hairs, wool or feathers. The whole construction will be concealed in a clump of grass that acts as a roof.

Four, five or six eggs will be laid, these being incubated by the female alone for up to 14 days with the male standing guard close by. Both parents feed the young, who leave the nest after about 10 days although they will continue to be fed by their parents for another two weeks or so before they fledge. A second brood is often raised. They leave for their winter quarters in August or September.

© John Welford

Yellowhammer

The yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) is a member of the bunting family that has red conservation status in the United Kingdom due to its declining numbers caused mainly by modern farming methods that have led to loss of habitat.

Distribution and habitat

The yellowhammer is found throughout Europe. In the United Kingdom it is less commonly seen the further north and west one goes and it is also rarer in upland areas.

The yellowhammer is a bird of the open countryside where bushes and hedges are abundant. It can also be seen in areas where young conifers are growing and on hillsides covered in bracken.

Appearance

The yellowhammer is a slim bird that measures 16-17 centimetres in length (6.5 inches). It has longish wings and a cleft in the tail. The upperparts are streaky chestnut brown in colour with plain chestnut on the rump. In summer, male yellowhammers are plain yellow on the head and underparts, although the winter plumage has a smaller area of yellow and a greater area of chestnut brown. 

Female yellowhammers have much less yellow colouring than the males, with more streaking on the underside and a paler shade of yellow on the head and upper chest. The tail feathers are dark brown with white edges and white underneath.

Behaviour

The yellowhammer’s flight is sometimes undulating and sometimes more direct. 

It spends much of its time on the ground, hopping rather than walking. 

Yellowhammers can also be seen perching in full view on bushes and hedges, singing and with tails flicking. They are more gregarious in winter than summer, sometimes in the company of other buntings and finches, when they may visit towns and city suburbs to take advantage of bird-table food.

The yellowhammer’s song is a series of wheezy high notes with a final longer one, characterised by the phrase “a little bit of bread and no cheese”. It also has some sharper and hoarser calls. A recording of the call, together with lots more information, is available on the website of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).

Food for yellowhammers consists mainly of seeds and berries, but about 30% of the diet is insects, spiders and worms.  

Breeding

The male’s courtship display consists of hopping round the female with drooped wings and rump feathers ruffled up, sometimes picking up a piece of twig or similar in its beak and prancing around with it.

The nest is built on or close to the ground in hedges or brambles or against grassy banks. It is made from plant stems, stalks and roots and generally lined with horsehair, even if the birds have to fly some distance to where horses are grazed or ridden. 

The clutch is of three to five eggs that are incubated mainly by the female yellowhammer. The young birds hatch after about 13 days and take as long again to leave the nest, continuing to be fed by their parents for another 10 days or so after that. After they have fledged, the young birds gather in small groups to visit nearby fields. A second brood is usual and a third is possible in good seasons.

© John Welford

Yellow-billed duck

The yellow-billed duck (Anas undulata) is also known as the “African yellowbill”. It is found in many countries of southern and eastern Africa, where it is relatively common, and it is therefore in the “least concern” category on the IUCN Red List of endangered species.

There are two sub-species, Anas undulata undulata being the southern yellow-billed duck and Anas undulata ruepelli the northern yellow-billed duck. However, the range of “undulata undulata” extends as far north as Kenya. There are slight differences in appearance between the two sub-species.

Appearance

The yellow-billed duck is related to the mallard and is similar in size and shape, the average length being about 55 centimetres (21.5 inches). The feathers of the wings and body are dark brown to black, with each feather having a white border. There is a green speculum patch (on the upper secondary wings), lined with white, that is seen when the bird is in flight. In the northern sub-species the speculum is blue. The head is black and the bill a brighter yellow in the northern sub-species than the southern. There is a black marking on the upper part of the bill and at the tip. Males and females look alike.

Habitat

The yellow-billed duck inhabits mainly freshwater locations but can also tolerate moderate salt levels in brackish lagoons and river estuaries. It prefers slow-moving or still water, such as is found in flooded grasslands, seasonal lakes and artificial reservoirs. In Kenya it is found mainly in upland areas, only breeding at locations above 1500 metres (5000 feet).

It is a sedentary species over much of its range, but southern yellow-billed ducks tend to move to follow the availability of seasonal wetlands.

Behaviour

The yellow-billed duck is largely nocturnal, hiding itself away during the day.

Outside the breeding season it can be seen in very large flocks, but during the breeding season, which coincides with the rainy season, it is generally found only in pairs or small groups.

Female yellow-billed ducks quack, whereas males whistle.

Feeding

The yellow-billed duck feeds both on plants and animals, the latter including insects, larvae, molluscs and crustaceans.

Breeding

The breeding season coincides with the rainy season, which varies in length and timing depending on location.

Pairs form after displays that include fighting, preening, aerobatics and swimming. However, the pair bond is short and the male has usually left before the chicks hatch.

The nest is constructed on the ground, by the female, and consists of a shallow scrape lined with fine grassy material. It is concealed in thick vegetation which may only be reachable via a tunnel through the grass. However, it will never be more than 20 metres (65 feet) from open water.

The clutch can be anything from two to ten eggs, laid one a day, and the female incubates them alone for up to 30 days. When she needs to leave the nest to feed she will cover the eggs with plant material.

When the chicks hatch they are fed by the mother duck for three weeks and are protected by her for some time afterwards. Fledging is at around 70 days, but the chicks will stay near the nest for as much as another six weeks before they become fully independent.

Conservation

The yellow-billed duck is not regarded as being in need of special conservation measures as its population in the wild is large and stable. There are places where pollution poses an environmental threat, and there are risks to the long-term stability of the species, especially in the south, through cross-breeding with mallards and other species.

The yellow-billed duck can be seen outside Africa at wetland reserves such as Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, England, where many species of duck are kept in a protected environment.

© John Welford