Wagtail - a bird that lives almost everywhere. The exceptions are islands in the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica. Some species nest even in the Arctic tundra and on
South Georgia Island in the subantarctic zone. The most common white wagtail in the Russian Federation. These feathered houses are most often built close to the ground in dense dense vegetation, but often also under the roofs of residential buildings, in attics, in cracks in the walls of buildings, in hollows of trees, in crevices of rocks, in minks on steep river banks. The nest is extremely simple in design, it is a bowl. The couple builds it from stalks of grass, animal hair, fluff and feathers. Wagtail chick is born helpless, but develops extremely quickly. At the age of the crescent, the baby begins an independent life.
Wagtails are paired immediately upon arrival from wintering. They occupy the territory where their future home will be located, but the nest itself begins to be built only after a month. In areas with cold climates, wagtails make 1 clutch per year, in the south - 2, sometimes even 3. Wagtails chicks spend in the nest on average about 2 weeks. Both parents are engaged in their nutrition, moreover, feeding occurs up to 300 times a day. Chicks become winged after 10 days of life and often fly out of the nest even before they learn to fly. Parents feed them on the ground, if the kids do not die. Wagtails are great parents. During hatching of eggs and feeding of chicks, these birds strictly adhere to their plot of territory. A female sits in the nest. This lasts 2 weeks. There can be 1 to 9 eggs in a nest. The male brings food to the female and behaves extremely aggressively towards other birds that have decided to violate the border.
Wagtail chicks are born blind, covered in rare fluff. Their body is not able to maintain heat balance, and the female warms the brood with her body for another week. When the kids leave the eggs, a caring mother immediately cleans the nest from the shell, carries it away from the home and even tries to break it. And later on, carefully removes the droppings. The male continues to take care of his family alone. When the wagtail chicks are covered with feathers, the parents begin to feed offspring together. After the start of an independent life, youth will unite in packs. They are quite easy to distinguish from adult birds by unformed forms, the presence of fluff and unexpressed color. Wagtail chicks by the end of August - the moment of departure to wintering places - completely turn into adult birds. These are small birds: depending on the species, from 13 to 22 centimeters in length. The body is elongated, thin. A small round head on a short neck with a long thin awl-shaped curved beak. The wings are pointed two-pointed. Depending on the species, the tail is long or medium, formed by 12 steering feathers. Brown eyes. Sexual dimorphism is practically absent. Wagtails are easily bred in captivity. In this case, they are loyal to birds of other species, fearless to humans.
