African Pied Wagtail
( Tyetye or African wagtail )
- Motacilla aguimp
- IUCN Status: Least Concern
- Trend: stable
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Passeriformes
- Family: Motacillidae
- Genus: Motacilla
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General Information
The African pied wagtail is a type of wagtail that has two formerly recognized subspecies.
Fun Facts!
Description
It is a striking black and white wagtail with black upperparts contrasting with white underparts, a white supercilium (plumage found on the head) and a white patch in the folded wing. Juvenile birds are greyer, while birds of the nominate subspecies show grey flanks.
Ecology and Behaviour
Diet
The African pied wagtail is mainly insectivorous but also feeds on other invertebrates, grass seeds, tadpoles, small fish and scraps of human food.
Reproduction
The African pied wagtail is monogamous, the cup-shaped nest is lined with grass and feathers and is usually situated near water in a convenient tangle of sticks. In settlements the nest may be located on buildings. They start breeding before the rains and continue to breed into the rainy season, they breed during six months of the year peaking in March and October. Both the males and females participate in nest building but only the female incubates but both sexes feed the young. The mean clutch was found to be 3.9 eggs.
Conservation
It is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a, ” Least Concern “.
Distribution and Habitat
The African pied wagtail is found in sub-Saharan Africa. They inhabit subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, rivers, and, sometimes, freshwater marshes. In some areas it is commensal or symbiotic with humans in towns and villages
Interaction with humans
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