White wagtail
Amazing fact
Female white wagtails have paler backs than males, giving them a gray appearance.
国土交通省 山国川河川事務所
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Female white wagtails have paler backs than males, giving them a gray appearance.
THE REAL WORLD
The real White wagtail
- Scientific name
- Motacilla alba
- Japanese name
- ハクセキレイ
- Group
- Birds
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Motacillidae
- Genus
- Motacilla
A bird that likes open places such as wide riverbeds, farmland and empty lots in towns.
It has a white face with a black line through each eye, though a subspecies without this line lives in western Japan.
It has a habit of wagging its long tail up and down. It is common in northern Japan in spring and summer, and in snow-free areas in autumn and winter.
How the White wagtail lives
They feed on insects. Their calls include both "chuchun" and "churii". In winter, the male's back becomes paler too.
国土交通省 山国川河川事務所日本野鳥の会 BIRD FANBasic data
- Size
- Total length: 21 cm日本野鳥の会 BIRD FAN
- Diet
- Insects国土交通省 山国川河川事務所
Where the White wagtail has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ハクセキレイ
- 简体中文
- 白鹡鸰
- 繁體中文
- 白鶺鴒
- 한국어
- 알락할미새
- Español
- Lavandera blanca
- Français
- Bergeronnette grise
- Deutsch
- Bachstelze
- Português (Brasil)
- Alvéola-branca
- Italiano
- Ballerina bianca
- العربية
- ذعرة بيضاء
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Kicuit perut-putih
- Tiếng Việt
- Chìa vôi trắng
- Русский
- Белая трясогузка
- Türkçe
- Ak kuyruksallayan
- ไทย
- นกอุ้มบาตร
- বাংলা
- সাদা খঞ্জন
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 日本野鳥の会 BIRD FAN — ハクセキレイChecked: 2026-11-03
- 国土交通省 山国川河川事務所 — 山国川の鳥図鑑 ハクセキレイChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Passeriformes
MORE TO MEET
