motacilla (wagtail) alba (dull white)
Friday, April 19, 2019 — 1:30 pm
Thun, Switzerland — Schadau Castle on Lake Thun
This one surprised me. In North America, White Wagtails are generally vagrants down from Alaska. I assumed they were arctic birds. So when I spotted one walking on the lawn in front of Schadau Castle, I got excited. Turns out that in the rest of the world, they can be found anywhere from Iceland to southern India.
It was a striking black and white bird that lived up to its name as it walked across the lawn.
I saw it, or another one, along the Aare River a few minutes later and one along the Langer See in Böblingen, Germany.