Species:

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga)

Change species:
Main Images:
Length (cm):
18-19
65-72
Wingspan (cm):
25-27
155-182
Weight (gram):
14-22
1600-3000
Size group:
Sparrow-size
Bigger than a crow
Main Texts:
Appearance:

Elegant and very long-tailed wagtail. Vent always bright yellow in all plumages. Legs pinkish flesh-coloured, not black. Wings with single white bar, visible both from below and above. Male with black throat in summer. Constantly wags tail, often in a more horizontal posture than congeners. Flight more attenuated and more bounding than in other wagtails. Attached to water and streams.

Sound:

Contact call short, metallic and with a clipped ending. Often disyllabic, "tzeet-tzeet", with each syllable more separated than in White Wagtail, and timbre more "dirty". Song simple but variable. Often starts with the contact call, followed by short melodic phrases. Sometimes with more elaborate song-flight like White Wagtail.

Contact call, flight call:

Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file


Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

Medium sized eagle with long, evenly broad wings and relatively short tail. Easily confused with Lesser Spotted Eagle, Clanga pomarina. Flight feathers usually paler than the dark coverts, and head and body same colour as wings. Only diffuse pale patch at base of primaries on upper wing (marked in C. pomarina). Pale base of primaries shows as "comma", but usually lacks pale base of under primary coverts, contrary to C. pomarina. Broader wings than C. pomarina, and the squarish wing-shape, short neck and tail recalls White-tailed Eagle (H. albicilla). U-shaped white patch at base of tail. Immature birds even darker than adults, and show white spots along upper wing coverts in two narrow bands. Very long "fingers" overall, and elongated 7th primary. Soars and glides on horizontal wings with drooping hand (as C. pomarina). Bill obviously heavier than C. pomarina, and yellow base and gular region stands out. Round nostrils.

Sound:

Vocal at breeding ground, and when courting. Short, barking, high-pitched whistles, not unlike a small dog. Slightly lower pitched than C. pomarina and with a fuller tone, but very similar.

Call:

Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file


Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

CC-sound:David Farrow, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Ronald Bontrop, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Paul Schrijvershof, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:CharlesLam, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Ronald Bontrop, Licence,Link.

CC-photo:Bart Moons, Licence,Link.

Similar species (sound):
Silhouette Group:
Wagtail/pipit-like
Silhouette
Raptors
Silhouette
Several different images of the species
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Several different sounds of the species
Error loading Flash for sound!
See sound file