White-browed Wagtail

The white-browed, or large pied, wagtail is the largest wagtail, 21 cm long. It is conspicuously patterned, black above and white below, with a prominent white brow, shoulder stripe and outer tail feathers and the long, constantly wagging tail of its genus. The upperparts, head and breast are black with a white supercilium and large white wingbar. The specific name is derived from Madras, now Chennai (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a resident breeder native to the Indian subcontinent, common near small water bodies and adapted to urban environments, where it often nests on rooftops. In most of India it is found below 1,000 m, but in south India it goes up into the hills to 2,200 m. It is usually seen in pairs or small groups near open water; the song is long and loud with many notes, and the usual call is a wheezy wheech. The breeding season is March to October, and in south India nesting begins when river levels drop and continues until the monsoon; nests have been noticed in a regularly used ferry. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, with a Very Large range of about 1.87 million km² and an inconclusive long-term trend of about −32% (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).