Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)
Updated: Jun 13, 2022
One bird that was eluding me for a while was the grey wagtail. I had seen one along the Thames not far from where I live once, but I didn't have my camera with me as I was doing a morning exercise walk. I had got a good enough look at it that I was able to plug the description in to the Merlin ID app and discovered what it was. But it was months before I saw one again, and I was hoping that as I walk near the river, I would again get a chance to see one and photograph it. I did see it again, and then didn't have my camera with me. But lo and behold, I ended up spotting one on a barge below my flat where some construction is being done on the river, and I ran down with my camera after photographing it from my flat, just in case it was gone by the time I got there. It was a grey wagtail, indeed! As it turned out, it was a juvenile one. I was still pretty happy, even though I didn't get to see an adult one. But luck was on my side on a recent road trip.
I had gone out for the day to Winchester to see the sights, and there's a lovely canal that runs through town, so my husband and I decided to walk along it and see where it led. I ended up spotting another juvenile, still being fed by its parents, so I photographed it, and all of a sudden, I spotted mom or dad with a beak full of insects for baby. I missed the shot of parent feeding its kid, but I was just happy to get decent photos of both. It was really sunny that day, so they're a bit overexposed, but it doesn't kill my excitement at all! The reason that they're called wagtails is that they do wag their tails quite a lot when they're walking around. When they land, the tail bobs to and fro, so with that knowledge, I can always ID them pretty quickly, even if they're somewhat far and I can't make out all the colours. Below are the youngsters, the one on brick, the one from Winchester.
Baby grey wagtail
June 13, 2022 update. More baby wagtails. Well, just one, but it is just so darn cute. I love little baby birds with their stretchy yellow corners of their mouths. They look so fragile and so precious. Because most of the birds I've seen have been so fleeting, I was able to take advantage of this little one today sitting there for the longest time on the cement wall of the Thames river. It was being fed by a parent at times but was left alone for a bit, and while it was there, its tail was wagging, so I was finally able to think of getting a video of it rather than just get a couple of photos in the short time I had to get them before the birds flew off. I had wanted to get a wagtail because you really get a sense of why these birds are called wagtails. Evidently, the tails don't wag continuously; they do seem to sit still as well, but for whatever reason, the tails wag up and down, to and fro. I caught this baby preening itself, all the while wagging its tail. I also got several good, close-up photos as it was closer than when it was on the tire, as in the photo above.
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