Black-Throated Gray Warbler

The black-throated gray warbler has black, white and gray plumage with a small yellow spot on the lores. It has a black head and throat with a white superciliary and submustachial areas; the upperparts are gray with black streaks on the back and two white wing bars; the underparts are white with black streaks along the flanks. I saw one on September 25, 2025 in Condon Park in Grass Valley, California

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World.

Plain-Backed Pipit

The plain-backed pipit is found in Africa and has nine-subspecies. I saw one on July 19, 2025 near Nkima Forest Lodge about Lake Victoria and the Mabamba Swamp in Uganda. As I look through the subspecies descriptions for the plain-backed pipit, and their geographical locations I can't find one that matches. 

I got a number of photos, but this bad photo is the best one I got. 

Illustration of Ssp. omoensis from Birds of the World. 

Range map from Birds of the World.

Pied Wagtail

The pied wagtail (Motacilla alba), as it is referenced on iNaturalist, or white wagtail as it is referenced on Birds of the World, is a bird I'd seen previously, in Lisbon, Portugal, for example, but had never gotten a recognizable photo of one. I finally photographed a couple of them on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle in County Kilkenny, Ireland on July 5, 2024. The pictures were taken with a cellphone and are not good quality. I posted unedited photos on iNaturalist and got 4 identifiers to agree with the assessment. For this post I've cropped and edited the photos in Lightroom to provide a grainy, but better view. 

There are 11 subspecies, 9 recognized by everyone and 2 less universally recognized. I saw ssp. yarellii which is found in Ireland and Great Britain. The ssp. in the north part of the range winter in North Africa and Spain, while those in the southern part of the range are resident year-round. This ssp. has a blacker back than the nominate ssp., and is thus also known as the black-backed wagtail. The black of the throat continues on the side of the neck. 

Illustration of a ssp. yarellii female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of ssp. yarellii male from Birds of the World. 

Range map from Birds of the World. 

On December 18, 2024, while doing the Central Range in Kaziranga NP in India, we saw a different ssp., alboides, found in the area around the Himalayas. It has a black back, a lot of black around the head, a white wing panel, and white edges on the secondaries and tertials. 

This illustration of ssp. alboides, aka Hodgson's white wagtail, is of a female. 

This illustration is of the male ssp. of alboides, Hodgson's white wagtail. 

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

On December 17, 2024, Judy and I were taking a tour of the Western Range of Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. We photographed two eastern yellow wagtails that were acknowledged as such by our guide and also one other identifier on iNaturalist. 

There are four subspecies and Assam, India does not fall within their normal range (see the range map below). Wikipedia notes that "most migrate to south-east Asia and Australia in the winter but the non-breeding range extends as far west as eastern India [where Assam is] and Sri Lanka." It inhabits open country near water, such as wet meadows, like these were in. Birds of the World notes "[c]omplex, marked variation in coloration, mainly involving head pattern of Alternate-plumaged male. White supercilium varies in extent and may be lacking entirely; color of throat varies from yellow to white...Subspecies vary mainly in head color/pattern of breeding male, with females and immatures often very difficult to assign to race (even when seen together in non-breeding areas)." They are sexually dimorphic in plumage - the female is similar to the male, but paler. In winter plumage, "both sexes [are] similar but duller overall, being browner on head and upperparts, and much paler yellowish below; upperparts veiled olive." Immatures may be duller, have underparts with little yellow, especially in females and a more pronounced gray necklace. 

Birds of the World illustration of adult female ssp. tschutschensis (with the non-breeding female being less yellow). 

Illustration of immature ssp. tschutschensis from Birds of the World. 

Breeding range from Birds of the World. 

Citrine Wagtail

I've seen one citrine wagtail in the Central Range of Karizanga NP in Assam (northeastern), India. The term citrine refers to its yellow coloration and wagtail refers to its characteristic tail pumping behavior. Males in breeding plumage are gray or black above, with white on the remiges, yellow below (possibly diluted by white), and on the head, except for the black nape. In winter plumage the yellow underparts may be diluted by white and the head is brownish with a yellowish supercilium. Females look like washed-out versions of males in winter plumage. 

Based on the illustrations below, it looks like this is a female in between breeding and non-breeding plumage in ssp. citreola. 

Illustration of non-breeding female ssp. citreola from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of breeding female, ssp. citreola, from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of male ssp. citreola from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Subspecies citreola is found from Finland and northern Russia, east to central Siberia, Transbaikalia, Mongolia and northeastern china and winters mainly in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. 

Olive-Sided Flycatcher

On May 20, 2023 I was at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve in Morongo Valley, California and saw two olive-sided flycatchers, the only olive-side flycatchers I've seen. 

The first two photos are of one, identified on iNaturalist by one other identifier. 

Raised head feathers look like a crest. 

White mid-breast. This photo is of another, identified as such by two others identifiers on iNaturalist.

This illustration is from Birds of the World. 

It has gray-olive or gray-brown plumage above, a white-mid-breast section and throat. The side of the breast are gray and make it look lite it is wearing a vest. It can raise its head feathers which make it look like it has a small crest. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

It breeds from California and New Mexico up to central Alaska, then across Canada, except for most of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut,  and through portions of the northeastern U.S. Its non-breeding area  is in northern South America and a small area in Central America. 

Scale-Crested Pygmy-Tyrant

As in my last post, I was at Tinamu Reserve near Manizales, Colombia with a Spanish speaking guide and his girlfriend, who spoke English. I was also with my wife and oldest granddaughter. I got a belly-photo (looking up into a tree) of a scale-crested pygmy tyrant which was identified by my Colombian guides and confirmed by one identifier on iNaturalist. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

I'm not going to go into much of a description: my photos hardly warrant it. It looks like I saw ssp. squamaecrista, found in the Andes of Colombia and western Ecuador. The nominate ssp. has a throat and upper breast that is white with blurry dusky to olive streaks. The rest of the underparts have a light yellow wash with a pale olive wash on the flanks. Squamaecrista has greenish edges on the wing coverts and wider and darker streaks on the throat and breast and paler yellowish flanks than the nominate.

Range from Birds of the World.