Yellow Wagtail

 Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) juvenile

A visit to the saltpans in Fuencaliente this morning led to the discovery of the juvenile Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava) shown here. The bird was foraging around the edges of the pools.

 Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

The first distant impression was that this migrant passerine might be my second Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) for the site (see Oct 6 2015 post). but all the fieldmarks visible at close range point to Yellow Wagtail (M.flava): dark lores, yellow vent, shortish tail, and pale lower mandible.

Also overall warmer plumage tones, with hints of olive brown on the back, are diagnostic of M. flava...but I am reluctant to assign this juvenile bird to any particular race.

 Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

The windy conditions on the day can be appreciated in the above photo.

Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)

The Yellow Wagtail (M. flava) is an irregular migrant to La Palma, the only resident/nesting Motacilla species being the Grey Wagtail (M. cinerea).

The following common waders were also present at the saltpans this morning:

2 x Dunlin (Calidris alpina), 2 x Sanderling (C. alba), 2 x Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula) and 1 x Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos).

On the drive down, I had another sighting of the Black Kite (Milvus migrans), first spotted on August 15 (see previous blog post).

Elsewhere on the island, on Sep 2, I spotted a Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) at an elevation of about 2,200m asl, on the road to Roque de los Muchachos. The photographs I managed to take are unfortunately of poor quality.