The male’s bright yellow head and two white wing bars make this wagtail distinctive. A breeding study in Poland found that meadow management and nearby reedbeds were associated with nest-site choice.
The male has a bright yellow head, throat and underside, a black neck and a dark grey back, with two white wing bars. The female is less strongly yellow and usually lacks the black neck.
Researchers fitted one male Citrine Wagtail breeding in Poland with a light-level geolocator. The record traced about 10,420 kilometres between its breeding site and a non-breeding site in Pakistan. This bird followed an unexpected route south of the Caspian Sea.
In autumn, it made long movements of 920 and 2,240 kilometres, which the researchers linked to crossing dry mountains and deserts. The 2,240-kilometre phase lasted 84 hours across arid parts of Iran and Pakistan. The tracking record suggests that the bird probably also flew at night. In spring, the bird returned along a more southerly route than it had taken in autumn. Including its first stopover, autumn migration lasted 70 days. The bird wintered near the lower Indus River and began its spring migration on 19 March.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The longest movement phase followed the bird’s longest stopover on migration. The authors suggest that this stopover allowed it to build reserves before crossing the desert. The tracked route records a staging place before a major dry barrier.