Species:

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

Shag (Gulosus aristotelis)

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Length (cm):
18-19
65-80
Wingspan (cm):
25-27
90-105
Weight (gram):
14-22
1760-2154
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:

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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:

Easily distinguished from Cormorant in breeding plumage, but at other times easily confused with congeners. Smaller than Cormorant, with a more slender neck and rounded head. Bill slender and straight. Steep forehead with peaked front crown, differs from the wedge shaped head of Cormorant. Bill often with yellow tinge (never in Cormorant). Flies with quicker wing-beats and straight neck (Cormorant with bulge). Often dives with a high jump. Juveniles with darker underparts than Cormorant, and often an obvious brownish tinge. Rare in brackish water.

Sound:

Very deep and harsh voice heard at breeding ground. Deep grunts alternated, or ended with clicking sounds.

Social interaction:

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

CC

Sounds:www.xeno-canto.org,Jens Kirkeby,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Similar species (image):
Similar species (sound):
Silhouette Group:
Wagtail/pipit-like
Silhouette
Auks/Cormorants
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