#1370 · 🐦 birds
Willie Wagtail
🇳🇱 Tuinwaaierstaart ·Rhipidura leucophrys
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Lip Kee · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 2. © Aaron Stevenson · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Aaron Stevenson · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © deborod · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © I Am birdsaspoetry.com · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 6. © Anna Lanigan · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 7. © Thomas Nataprawira · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 8. © lancelot239 · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © anonymous · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 10. © Summerdrought · CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The willie (or willy ) wagtail ( Rhipidura leucophrys ) is a passerine bird native to Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Eastern Indonesia. It is a common and familiar bird throughout much of its range, living in most habitats apart from thick forest. 5 cm (7 1⁄2–8 1⁄2 in) in length, the willie wagtail is contrastingly coloured with almost entirely black upperparts and white underparts; the male and female have similar plumage.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 30,056 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Weighs only about 20 g.
- Scientifically named by John Latham in 1801 (225 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Willie Wagtail
- Nederlands
- Tuinwaaierstaart
- scientific name
- Rhipidura leucophrys
- class
- Aves
- order
- Passeriformes
- family
- Rhipiduridae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 30,056
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- 20 g
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1801 by John Latham
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Rhipiduridae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 8143, Wikidata Q642235, GBIF 5231722, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.