Ogden

Juvenile Meadow Pipit

Juvenile Grey Wagtail.

I have yet to find a modern bird guide that gives full descriptions of juvenile Passerines, with pictures. None of my three has a pic of a juvenile Grey Wagtail, and descriptions are brief and sometimes questionable.

The remains of the gape flange and the pink bill (black in adult) age this bird as juvenile. None of my guides mentions the upperparts, which here are paler grey than on adults, and brownish grey on the crown. Kightley et al says these juvs have "more uniform peachy-buff underparts and buff-yellow vent", while Hume et al (Britain's Birds) say "pink-buff beneath with whiter flank; yellow vent". Svensson et al (Collins Bird Guide) does not mention juvs. This bird has a yellow (not buff-yellow) vent (and rump), but I can see nothing peachy or pink: the flanks are white, and the breast looks faintly yellowish white.

I wonder what the pre-war Witherby et al volume says?