White wagtail
Motacilla alba
A slim, long-tailed black, white and grey wagtail. Confirmed in Georgia as a year-round resident on the 2024 national bird checklist.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Insects
Status in Georgia
Year-round resident
Size
16.5–19 cm
Habitat
Open ground / settlements
Family
Motacillidae
Conservation
LC
Human interaction: It is not venomous, poisonous, or a threat to people. Wild birds must not be captured. Keep a distance from nests in wall crevices and on buildings.
Overview
What is White wagtail
The white wagtail (Motacilla alba) is a slim, long-tailed wagtail confirmed in Georgia as a year-round resident on the 2024 national bird checklist. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse) codes it YR-R: a breeder present throughout the year, and lists the taxon as Motacilla alba alba. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A). Occurrence quality is high (H), with photographs. SABUKO’s public checklist and the Iliauni SPA country list also code it YR-R, M. This page follows the peer-reviewed 2024 appendix for country status (YR-R) and reports the extra migrant code as a disagreement. Adults are about 16.5–19 cm long at species level. It is not a threat to people. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The 2024 checklist assigns LC globally and nationally. The usual Georgian name is თეთრი ბოლოქანქარა.
Last updated
Gallery
White wagtail in photos
Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Lahemaa National Park, Estonia ·
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci
Tuzla, Karataş, Adana ·
Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Hållö, Västra Götaland, Sweden ·
Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Marken, Netherlands ·
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci
Tuzla, Karataş, Adana ·
Photo: Artur Mikołajewski
Biebrza National Park, Poland ·
Identification
How to identify White wagtail
A slim, long-tailed black, white and grey bird that walks on the ground and wags its tail. In Georgia it is a year-round resident on the 2024 checklist. The usual confusion is other wagtails, especially grey wagtail.
- 01
Length about 16.5–19 cm at species level; mass commonly about 18–25 g. The body is slim and the tail is long. The bill is thin and black. Flight is undulating. The 2024 checklist ties the Georgian form to Motacilla alba alba: the back is grey, not solid black.
- 02
In breeding plumage the crown and throat are black, the forehead and face white, the back grey, the underparts white, with a white wing panel. Outside breeding the throat and breast are paler, with less black. Juveniles are duller grey-brown, with weaker contrast. The British and Irish form M. a. yarrellii has a black back; that form is not listed for Georgia on the 2024 checklist.
- 03
Grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) is YR-R; M in Georgia on the 2024 checklist; it has yellow underparts, a grey back, a longer tail, and usually streams or valleys. Western yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is BB; M: olive-green back, yellow underparts, a shorter tail. Citrine wagtail (Motacilla citreola) is BB; M: breeding males have a yellow head. This atlas does not yet have separate pages for those wagtails.
- 04
It is not a threat to people. Leave it alone. A black-and-white bird wagging its tail and running on a yard or roadside in Georgia is usually this species.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
In Georgia look for it in open or semi-open ground, often near water or buildings: river edges, roadsides, yards, parks, farms, roofs, and car parks. At species level it feeds on bare or short-cover surfaces where it can see and chase insects. Dense closed forest is not typical. A named Georgian locality is the Chorokhi Delta south of Batumi (Adjara): SABUKO’s 2018 spring survey counted the species on several dates. Iliauni SPA N 16 (Batumi) lists it as BB, M; SPA N 17 (Kolkheti) lists it as YR-R. The 2024 checklist confirms country-level status but does not publish a municipality gazetteer. Do not assume it occurs evenly across Georgia. A separate national elevation band for Georgia is not published here; the atlas map colours only administrative units with a named locality in a cited source.
Diet
There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range it is insectivorous: insects and their larvae, spiders, and other small invertebrates on or near the ground. It often runs, wags the tail, then makes a short dash at prey. That is species-level feeding, not a measured Georgian menu.
Behavior
It is active by day. On the ground it walks and runs; after landing and when hunting it pumps the long tail up and down. Flight is undulating; in flight it often gives a short, sharp contact call, roughly “tsilip” or “chissick”. The recording on this page is xeno-canto XC501786 (Hannu Varkki, Helsinki; CC BY-SA 4.0). The nest is a rough cup in a crevice or cavity — riverbank, wall, bridge, or building. Species-level clutches are often about four to six eggs; incubation is about 12–16 days, and young leave the nest at about 12–15 days. Those figures are from the wider range, not a Georgian nest sample on this page. The 2024 checklist treats the species as a breeding resident in Georgia. Large winter roosts in towns are described elsewhere; they are not measured here for Georgia.
Conservation
BirdLife International / IUCN assess Motacilla alba as Least Concern. The range and population are very large. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190). The 2024 Georgian bird checklist assigns global and national Red List category LC. A Georgia-specific population trend is not quantified on this page. At species level it uses human buildings and open ground well; that does not mean it is equally successful in every habitat. Do not catch or keep wild birds.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about White wagtail.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia lists it as a confirmed year-round resident (breeder present throughout the year).
In open ground, often near water or buildings — yards, parks, roadsides, river edges. A named locality is the Chorokhi Delta (Adjara). This page has no complete municipality list.
It is a slim bird with a long tail that it wags on the ground. In breeding plumage the head and throat are black, the face white, the back grey. Grey wagtail has yellow underparts. Yellow wagtail has an olive back and yellow underparts, with a shorter tail.
About 16.5–19 cm long at species level, mass about 18–25 g. A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page.
Insects, larvae, spiders and other small invertebrates on the ground. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
Year-round, according to the 2024 checklist (YR-R). Some public checklists also code it as a migrant; it was counted at the Chorokhi Delta in spring 2018.
Yes. Year-round resident on the 2024 checklist means it is treated as a breeder present throughout the year.
It is harmless. It is globally Least Concern and is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List. Do not catch wild birds.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- SABUKO 2018 — Survey of birds of the Chorokhi Delta
- Ilia State University — SPA bird checklist
- Ilia State University — SPA N 16 Batumi
- Ilia State University — SPA N 17 Kolkheti
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- BirdLife DataZone — White Wagtail factsheet
- IUCN Red List — Motacilla alba
- GBIF — Motacilla alba
- IOC World Bird List
- Badyaev et al. — Birds of the World (White Wagtail)
- Cornell All About Birds — White Wagtail identification
- Avibase — Georgia bird checklist
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- Wikimedia Commons — White wagtail Lahemaa (Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — White wagtail Tuzla (Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — White wagtail Sweden (Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — White wagtail Marken (Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — White wagtail Adana (Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Motacilla alba alba Biebrza (Artur Mikołajewski, CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Motacilla alba XC501786 (Hannu Varkki, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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