What do pied wagtails eat? Where do they nest? How long do they live for?
All that and more in this short pied wagtail fact-file.
Here is the script I wrote for the video:
A carpark might seem like a strange place to start a wildlife fact file, but the reason for this is simple, Urban pied wagtails have made a name for themselves as carpark dwellers. These black and white birds are a sub species of the white wagtail which is found across most of Europe, northern Africa, Asia and even occasionally breeds in western Alaska. They have a wingspan of up to 30cm, grow to weigh just 27 grams and their most notable feature is their constantly wagging tail. There have been a few suggestions for why they do this including communicating with one another and for flushing out insects but the leading theory is that its a signal to predators that they are healthy and alert and will get away if chased.
In southern England they don't migrate large distances but can move to good feeding areas such as farmland during the colder months. For the rest of the year they can be found in pretty much any open habitat including parks, beaches, wasteland areas and along fresh water courses. Those birds from the more northern part of the county do migrate in colder years and have been known to travel as far as Africa to spend the winter.
For the most part a pied wagtails diet is made up of insects and they are particularly fond of flies which they expertly snatch from the air. They will however also feed on seeds and scraps where invertebrates are in short supply.
Nesting starts from mid April when the female alone creates a nest of twigs, grass, dead leaves and moss lined with hair wool and feathers. These are often in rock cervices, hollow trees or holes in walls but they will also nest directly on the ground or sometimes on top of the abandoned nests of other birds. The female will then lay five or six speckled blue white eggs which the pair share the incubation of for 12 to 14 days. After the chicks hatch, both parents feed them in the nest until they fledge at around 2 weeks of age. After fledging the lighter coloured young birds follow their parents around, constantly begging for food. This lasts for a further 2 to 3 weeks after which point the young move out of the territory and the parents start nesting again. Each pair can have 2 to three broods in a year although those in upland areas may only attempt to nest once per season.
Pied wagtails have had a long history alongside people and as such have developed several nicknames over the years, these include penny and polly dishwasher. Its thought this was given to them as they would often be seen in the same areas where people would wash their pots and pans before most homes had running water. In the winter in urban areas, pied wagtails can form really large overnight roosts of upto 3000 birds. Unfortunately I cant show you this as there are no copyright free images but its worth a google. There are currently around 470,000 breeding pairs of pied wagtails in the UK and they are one of the few species whose numbers are actually increasing here. In the wild they have an average lifespan of 2 years but one bird was recorded at 11 years and three months of age.
Some of the images and footage used in this video were obtained using creative commons licences. The originals and their licence details can be found at:
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