Dutch Birding volume 34 (2012) no 1

White-throated Wagtail at Makkum in May 2004

On 2-20 May 2004, a territorial male White-throated Wagtail Motacilla cinereocapilla was present at Makkum, Friesland, the Netherlands. The bird could not be identified to subspecies level since it showed a head pattern intermediate between nominate Ashy-headed Wagtail M c cinereocapilla and Spanish Wagtail M c iberiae. Compared with Blue-headed Wagtail M flava, it showed a largely dark blue head with only a small white supercilium just behind the eye and a sharply defined white chin. The call, produced both perched and in flight, was a loud and sharp srree.

Ageing wagtails in the field is notoriously difficult, and although the bird seemed to show a moult pattern fitting an adult, the age could not be determined with certainty. The call of the Makkum bird was typical for the yellow wagtail complex of the Mediterranean and excluded northern species (Yellow Wagtail M flavissima, Blue-headed Wagtail and Grey-headed Wagtail M thunbergi). The combination of the head pattern and call only fits White-throated Wagtail. Until recently, the Dutch committee for avian systematics (CSNA) treated Ashy-headed Wagtail and Spanish Wagtail as different species but now Spanish is part of White-throated Wagtail M cinereocapilla (which also includes Egyptian Wagtail M c pygmaea). The reason for lumping the two taxa is that the head pattern of Ashy-headed and Spanish are not diagnostically different from each other, since both show great variation in head pattern. Moreover, it has recently been shown that Ashy-headed breeds in Morocco, where only Iberian was known to breed, invalidating the assumption that they represent geographically separated populations.

This record was accepted by the Dutch rarities committee (CDNA) as the first White-throated Wagtail for the Netherlands. Two other records have been accepted since, both in April 2006 and both accepted to subspecies level as nominate cinereocapilla.

Sander Bot, Postbus 41139, 9701 CC Groningen, Nederland
(sanderbotyahoo.co.uk)
Dick Groenendijk, Elzenstraat 14, 4043 PB Opheusden, Nederland
(dickgroenendijkfilternet.nl)
Eddy Nieuwstraten, Mozartstraat 14, 6521 GC, Nijmegen, Nederland
(nieuw164planet.nl)
Ferry Ossendorp, Oude Karselaan 104, 1182 CT Amstelveen, Nederland
(ferryossendorpcasema.nl)
Mark Zekhuis, Oostermaatsdijk 12A, 7435 PC Okkenbroek, Nederland
(rarevogelplanet.nl)