Yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava) is about 15 to 16 cm long, similar in size to a sparrow, but it is considerably slimmer and has a longer tail. Size is actually their only common trait. We will recognize the male yellow wagtail by its lemon-yellow ventral side, which merges into olive-green on the upper side of the body. Its head and slim pointed beak are gray, and its slender legs are black. Unlike the saturated colors of the male's summer plumage, the female's plumage is much paler, and in winter the male's colors also fade. From Europe, at least eight subspecies of the yellow wagtail are known, differing in the coloration of the head and throat. The yellow wagtail is most similar to the grey wagtail, which has an ash-gray back and a dark throat (females gray, males black).
The yellow wagtail lives on moist pastures and marshy meadows, in mires and lake shores. It likes having somewhat taller and denser vegetation near grazing areas from which it sings its modest song. It is a migratory bird that winters in Africa and returns to us in early spring. The males arrive first; after a week or two they are joined by the females and courtship begins. From May to June, two broods may be raised in a nest hidden on the ground. It also spends most of its time on the ground, where during the day it searches for food. It tirelessly runs here and there and deftly picks up small insects from the ground and from vegetation, and from time to time it waves its tail, reminding us that it is a wagtail.
In Slovenia, three species of wagtails breed, and the yellow wagtail is the rarest among them. In Slovenia's Red List of threatened birds that breed, it is listed as a vulnerable species, as it is tied to a sensitive habitat. This habitat can quickly change to such an extent that it is no longer suitable for the yellow wagtail's life. It is primarily threatened by the drying up of marshy areas and the intensification of farming. The largest Slovenian populations of this species live at Lake Cerknica and the Ljubljana Marsh, in the Ribnica Valley and the Sečovlje Salt Pans.
