Whilst birding Sabkhat Al Fasl 6 March I found two Eastern
Black-headed Yellow Wagtail melanogrisea
feeding along a path and near the waters edge. This subspecies is not as common as
Black-headed Wagtail feldegg in the
Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia but arrive in early march similar to feldegg. Some individual Black-headed Yellow Wagtails, more
common in the eastern part of their range, show some white on sides of the
throat (often also on upper throat) like the ones I saw and have been named melanogrisea. Melanogrisea is
said to breed from the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea south to northern
Afghanistan and the Tian Shan, and east to Lake Balkhash, Tarbagatay and
Dzungaria and winter mainly in India. Plumage wise it is close to feldegg but
slightly brighter and paler green on the back, paler yellow below with the chin
white instead of yellow and the yellow throat separated from the black
ear-coverts by a more or less narrow white line lacking in feldegg. The
hood also does not reach the back onto the mantle. These differences are not
consistent according to Alstrom and Mild ‘Pipits & Wagtails’ and they do
not think it is a valid subspecies saying birds showing characteristics of melanogrisea
are uncommon spring migrants in East Africa and comprise 10% of the feldegg
passing in spring in Israel and many birds in spring in India appear to be
typical feldegg. Birds on the breeding grounds of melanogrisea
also lack the white stripe and some birds in the European breeding range of feldegg
also have a white stripe. As a result Alstrom & Mild regard melanogrisea as a plumage variant within
feldegg that becomes clinally commoner in the eastern part of the
breeding range. This is probably correct as the birds I saw show signs of melanogrisea but lack the white throat
mentioned for that type.
