Motacilla madaraspatensis J. F. Gmelin, 1789

A large black and white wagtail with a prominent white brow, shoulder stripe and outer tail feathers. They are seen around water bodies and have adapted to the urban environment.

The season is elastic and continues almost throughout the year. March to September are, however, the most widely favoured months. The nest is a cup-shaped pad of rootlets, hair, wool and dry algae, placed in a hole in a wall, beneath a projecting rock, among the rafters of an inhabited house or under the girders of a bridge spanning a river. Whatever the situation, the nest is always in the neighbourhood of water. The normal clutch consists of three or four eggs. They are greyish-, brownish-, or greenish-white in colour, blotched and streaked with various shades of brown. Both sexes share in building the nest and feeding the young.

About that of the Bulbul.

A typical wagtail of black and white plumage resembling in pattern that of the familiar Magpie-Robin. Sexes alike.

They constantly wag their tails while foraging. They are often found near water, on the edges of lakes and streams and on forest roads. It calls include many rapidly repeated notes, often rendered as `si-chi-chwee....si-chi-chwee

The Large Pied Wagtail is usually met with in pairs in the neighbourhood of jheete and village tanks, but above all it loves clear, shingly, smooth-running streams with rocks here and there and diminutive cypress-grass covered islets standing in their beds. The birds are not shy and often frequent human habitations, perching upon roof-tops and the like, or running about and feeding within a few feet of the dhobi battering his clothes. They have a number of loud, pleasant whistling calls and during the breeding season the male sings sweetly from a rock or housetop. The song is not unlike some snatches of the Magpie-Robin's. Otherwise, in general habits, this species does not differ from other wagtails.

Pairs, on river banks or near water.

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1