Status and Occurrence of Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis) in British Columbia
by Rick Toochin
Read the full article with photos on our Vagrant Bird page.
Introduction and Distribution
The Eastern Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla tschutschensis) is a small passerine species that breeds from the arctic coast of the northwestern Mackenzie River Delta, west across the arctic coast of the Yukon, west throughout northern and western Alaska, west into Russia from the Chukotka Peninsula, south and east to Amurland as far west as eastern Kazakhstan, north-eastern Mongolia, and Northeast China (Godfrey 1986, Alstrom and Mild 2003, Brazil 2009, Dunn and Alderfer 2011). This species winters from southern Japan, southern China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, the Greater Sundas, and northern Australia (Alstrom and Mild 2003, Brazil 2009). Birds that breed in North America migrate back to Russia to winter in southern parts of Asia. One Eastern Yellow Wagtail subspecies called (Motacilla tschutschensis simillima) that breeds in eastern Siberia has been recorded as a casual vagrant on islands in western Alaska north to St. Lawrence Island and is accidental on the Alaskan Mainland (Gibson and Kessel 1997, West 2008). Some authorities recognize this as a subspecies of Eastern Yellow Wagtail which Clements et al. (2014) merges with the nominate subspecies of Eastern Yellow Wagtail called (Motacilla tschutschensis tschutschensis). In 2004, the AOU recognized a split in the former species called Yellow Wagtail which was officially split into two species: Eastern Yellow Wagtail and Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava). The systematics of the Western Yellow Wagtail is complicated and is currently not fully understood (Banks et al. 2005). There are many distinct subspecies that are currently lumped together under Western Yellow Wagtail that could be split into more species in the future (Banks et al. 2005). The Western Yellow Wagtail breeds from Europe, North Africa, through Turkey, the Middle East, Iran, north and east to Eastern Mongolia, and across southern Russia into the Arctic regions of Siberia to the Kolyma River (Alstrom and Mild 2003, Brazil 2009). This species winters from Sub-Sahara Africa, areas of the Arabian Peninsula, India and areas of South and South-east Asia (Alstrom and Mild 2003). Currently, the AOU doesn’t recognize any records of Western Yellow Wagtail for North America (Banks et al. 2005). It is unclear if there are any records for North America, but observers should keep this in mind when reporting Eastern Yellow Wagtail anywhere in North America (Banks et al. 2005).
All records south of Alaska of the Eastern Yellow Wagtail are presumed by authorities to be of the subspecies (Motacilla t. tschutschensis) due to its abundance in northern Alaska (Hamilton et al. 2007). A photographic record from Ocean Shores in Washington State of an adult bird found on July 29, 1992, was believed to be of the subspecies (Motacilla t. tschutschensis) (Wahl et al. 2005). Due to the similarity of immature and winter plumages of the two known Eastern Yellow Wagtail subspecies that are known occur in North America in Alaska, it is presumed at this time that all West Coast records south of Alaska, pertain to the more abundant (Motacilla t. tschutschensis), but in the future, a more in depth study of these records could change our current understanding (Hamilton et al. 2007).
Along the west coast, the Eastern Yellow Wagtail is a casual vagrant with almost all records occurring in the fall (Roberson 1980, Hamilton et al. 2007). In Washington State, there are only two accepted state records by the Washington Bird Records Committee (Wahl et al. 2005, WBRC 2013). In Oregon, there are only three accepted state records by the Oregon Bird Records Committee (OFO 2012). There are eighteen accepted state records for California by the California Bird Records Committee (Hamilton et al. 2007, Tietz and McCaskie 2014). There is one accepted record for Nevada (Cressman et al. 1998, Banks et al. 2005, NBRC 2015). There is even an incredible accepted record of “Yellow Wagtail” for Alabama, but it is unclear which species is involved (Banks et al. 2005, ABRC 2015). There is one accepted record for Mexico from the Baja Peninsula (Banks et al. 2005). An even more spectacular record is of a photographed “Yellow” Wagtail from Plum Beach, Brooklyn, New York, from September 7, 2008 (NYSARC 2008, Guthrie 2009). In British Columbia, there are over ten Provincial records and all have come from coastal locations (Campbell et al. 1997, Toochin et al. 2014).
