Your willy wagtail is no doubt actively looking for a new mate, especially since it's the breeding season. 0 0. They colonised the Snares group during 1977-81, but disappeared during a severe storm in 2001. With the help of over 7,000 of the world’s best wildlife filmmakers and photographers, conservationists and scientists, Arkive.org featured multi-media fact-files for more than 16,000 endangered species. The related willie wagtail has reached New Zealand on one occasion. The reason for my query: We were blessed with an adult wagtail (female, we think) that visited our house for the last 3 years or so, but has most probably lived in the area for longer than that. Inhabits parks, farms, and grasslands, where often perches prominently, flicking the tail from side to side and giving a pleasing “chitit-chitit-chitit” call. They're life time partners. Quite often the parents will either renovate – or use the nesting material to make a new nest. Distribution and habitat. Rival males show aggression by expanding their eyebrows during a territorial dispute. With a lifespan of 12 to 15 years, the willie wagtail is a bird you may get to know very well around your garden, it might just turn you into a "bird brain". I'm sure in no time she will have a new mate and a new nest. Fantails occur widely from Northland to Stewart Island, and on some islands of the Chathams group (Chatham, Pitt, Rangatira, Mangere, Little Mangere). 1 decade ago. This character will remind us to know more of the world around us. The Willie Wagtail exhibits a range of foraging behaviours that include tail wagging and wing flashing. Black above, white below, with narrow white eyebrow. Its head and throat are black, making a distinctive hood; the mantle and much of the tail and wings are also black. This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on September 9, 2014. Life is tough in the wild! Similar Restless Flycatcher has white chin, no white eyebrow, and more peaked crown. No. Generally Willie wagtail nests are very flimsy – especially if they have 3 or 4 babies. It is thought that such movements flush insects from the ground facilitating their capture. The neck, underparts and outer wing feathers are white. Although they usually live life in the fast lane, the maximum recorded age for a pied wagtail is 11 years and 3 months. Four young in a small nest stretch it beyond re-use. Related Photos The distinctive white eyebrow of the male wagtail is not just a fashion statement - it helps him attract a mate. Wildscreen's Arkive project was launched in 2003 and grew to become the world's biggest encyclopaedia of life on Earth. The Willie Wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys, lives all over mainland Australia and is hard to miss with its long fanned tail that it swings from side to side or up and down while foraging on the ground. The Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) is one of the best known and best loved birds of Australia.. Its range includes the entire mainland of Australia and northern Tasmania, and extends to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, and eastern Indonesia. How people can help Whether you live in town or country, you can help to look after garden birds by providing food and water for them. Willie wagtail is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community.Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so. Large black-and-white songbird with fine bill and long legs. The pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis) is a songbird native to Australia.Described by John Gould in 1837, it is a black and white bird 28 to 32 cm (11 to 12.5 in) long with a long hooked bill. To have a Willie Wagtail totem tells you that there may be more friendships that will enter your life. The Willie Wagtail is a frequent sight in almost all habitats except thick forest. Willie Wagtail is also known for not being reserved, they can be semi-tamed and could live through human activity in rural areas. Carolyn.