Hi there Everyone!
This little Wagtail was very curious about what my husband was doing under the hood of the car. He/she flew around his shoulders (I believe looking for bugs) and had a chat with him.
At first, I believed this bird to be a juvenile Willy Wagtail. Reason being, there was a mating pair of Willy's that stayed within a certain range from this little one. But I've been informed recently, that he/she is a Grey Fantail? If anyone could please shed some light on this, it would be much appreciated....
Kind regards,
TrudyC
Sorry about the photo detail - I will try to get more tomorrow :)
Adult Grey Fantail, Trudy. Nice pic :)
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
Hi Trudy, here is a photo I found on google of a young Willie Wagtail. Note the difference in that your Grey Fantail has a white throat and second white "eyebrow" whereas the Willie lacks these markings. Willie wagtails already have their dark black plumage as soon as they are fledged, the main difference from the adult birds being the grey/brown flecks on the shoulder as you can see in the image below. Hope this helps.
Cheers, Liam.
LM
It's amazing! One is a Wagtail, the other is a Fantail - yet there is really little difference between them. They make the same chirps and movements....The similarities are uncanny, considering our grey fantail is an adult lol....Thank you both for the info! It's always nice to sort it out ;)
Kind regards,
TrudyC
Regards
TrudyC
aka RedBrowedFinch
I know what you mean with the fantails being unafraid and inquistive - just the other day i had a curious grey fantail do a close loop around me almost within arms reach. I have had similar experience a number of times in NZ with grey fantails flying around me very close as if they were going to land on me.
Hello Trudy - the Willie Wagtail belongs to the Fantail family
Peter