Motacilla alba Linnaeus, 1758

The bird is extremely variable and head has black-and-white pattern. Mantle is grey or black, and wing coverts are largely white or largely black. The black-backed birds could possibly be confused with White-browed, but that species is much larger and head is largely black and supercilium is broad white. There is considerable variation among breeding adults in subspecies. Patterning of black on head and breast is considerably variable in non-breeding and first-winter birds, but in some subspecies characteristics of breeding plumage is retained by the non-breeding birds. In the two breeding subspecies, juveniles have grey head, mantle and breast and supercilium is whitish. In M.a. alba mantle is grey, forehead and face are white while hind crown/nape, throat and breast are white. In M.a. personata, mantle is grey, head and breast black, forehead and face patch are white which gives rise to a pale-masked appearance. M.a alboides is much like personata but mantle and back are black, although in females upperparts are mixed variably in grey. In M.a. leucopsis mantle and back are black, otherwise like breeding male alba has head pattern but with white throat. In M.a. ocularis, mantle and back is grey and is much like alba, but in all plumages has black eye-stripe. In M.a.baicalensis, mantle and head is grey and is much like alba, but chin and upper throat is white and contrasts with black breast.

Motacilla alba is native to Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Islamic Republic of, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Korea, Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territory, Occupied, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation (Central Asian Russia, Eastern Asian Russia, European Russia), San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Province of China, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, Western Sahara, Yemen. It is vagrant in Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Canada, Comoros, Gabon, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Seychelles, Tanzania, United Republic of, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago. Although present in Guam, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, its origin is uncertain.