Willie Wagtail

The willie wagtail wags its long tail side to side, and often in a sweeping circular motion, almost constantly while it forages on the ground, and the leading explanation is that the movement flushes hidden insects. Prey that is sitting still and camouflaged in grass or leaf litter tends to move when it detects the approaching disturbance of the wagging tail, and that movement gives away its position to the sharp-eyed bird, which can then dart in and catch it. The tail-wagging may also serve a signalling function in interactions with other willie wagtails and possibly in deterring predators by advertising that the bird is alert.

Yes. Despite weighing only around 20 grams, the willie wagtail is one of the most aggressive small birds toward intruders near its nest, and it will launch sustained attacks on animals hundreds or thousands of times its size. Documented targets include wedge-tailed eagles, Australia's largest bird of prey, along with ravens, kookaburras, herons, cats, dogs, goannas, snakes, and humans who stray too close to a nest. The wagtail swoops repeatedly from behind and above, calls loudly, and sometimes makes contact, and this relentless harassment is usually enough to drive a much larger animal away from the area even though the wagtail could never win a direct fight.

Unlike most small songbirds, which fall silent after dusk, the willie wagtail often sings during the night, particularly on warm evenings and when the moon is bright, delivering its lively, rolling, musical phrases in the darkness. The reasons are not fully settled, but nocturnal singing in birds is generally thought to relate to territory defence and mate attraction at a time with less competing noise, and possibly to the bird continuing to be active and alert on bright nights. The habit has contributed to the willie wagtail's strong presence in folklore, where its late-night calling is sometimes given ominous or supernatural meaning.

The willie wagtail appears widely in the traditions of many Aboriginal Australian language groups, though the specific meanings vary. It is frequently cast as a talkative bird, a carrier of news or gossip, or a spirit that listens in on conversations, and in some traditions its appearance or calling near a camp is taken as a message or a warning, sometimes of a death or of visitors arriving. In other stories it is a mischievous or deceitful character. This prominence reflects how conspicuous, bold, and human-associated the bird is, since it lives readily alongside people and is active and vocal at times when other birds are not.