White Wagtails
White Wagtails are fascinating birds. In the UK we call our darker sub-species the Pied Wagtail.
Even though it’s a common bird and it’s officially classified as of ‘least concern’ it still faces threats. Amazingly, two of those are being kept as pets and being shot and eaten.
It’s one of the species I wrote about in my childhood nature notebooks:
They are constantly on the move:
It’s also one of the species I see quite often at UK motorway service stations, pecking and wagging in the car parks. Here’s my desperate experience of the UK’s road system and the joy of seeing a Wagtail at the services:
This one is in the Parco della Caffarella in Rome:
That incessant tail-wagging is slightly disturbing. Here it is illustrated in a 1950s Ladybird book:
Watching them is still a pleasure:
