Least ConcernGrey Wagtail
Motacilla cinerea
45 countries236 parks
Species group · Birds
WAnimals has 3 species of wagtail, in the family Motacillidae.
Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 3.
Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
Recorded in 47 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
Always tied to running water; it bobs its tail constantly on the stones.
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It is the wagtail most tied to running water: it prefers stretches of river with rapids and waterfalls, which is where its Spanish name comes from.
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It goes higher than the yellow wagtail: it can live up to 2,000 m, while that species does not usually pass 800.
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It follows livestock to catch the insects they put up as they graze.
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Its Spanish name comes from its habit of moving among cattle looking for the insects they flush; "lavandera", washerwoman, refers to its living beside water.
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Its scientific name conceals a medieval misunderstanding: motacilla is in fact a diminutive of motare, "to move", but it was read as though cilla meant "tail".
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It associates with livestock to take the larvae of the insects that lay their eggs in the dung.
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It is one of the regular hosts of the common cuckoo in central Europe.
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