Mountain Wagtail

About the Mountain Wagtail

The mountain wagtail (Motacilla clara), also known as the long-tailed wagtail or grey-backed wagtail, is a species of wagtail of the family Motacillidae from sub-Saharan Africa. A slender, long tailed wagtail with light bluish grey upperparts and white underparts with a narrow black breast band. The wings are black with white feather edges and two white wing covert bars. The outer tail is white and the tail centre is black. The face is blackish broken up with a white supercilium and the eyelid. Juveniles are browner than adults.

The mountain wagtail occurs in the Afromontane, from Guinea to Ethiopia south to South Africa. In southern Africa it is locally common in the north and eastern highlands of Zimbabwe and adjoining parts of Mozambique, southwards to the Eastern Cape.

The mountain wagtail normally prefers small rivers and streams in hill country, especially stretches where there are waterfalls and flat rocks immersed in shallow water and where hill slopes are clothed in forest, woodland or dense scrub. It may also be seen along forest paths, tracks and roads and occasionally in gardens.

The mountain wagtail is... Wikipedia →