White Wagtail; Lavandera Blanca

The 3rd part of the scientific name is the sub-species and is only used when the differences are obvious. Many Wagtails are similar in winter but summer plumages can be very different and some other species are the same to a greater of lesser extent. With the advent of DNA testing some sub-species have disappeared while others have become separate full species. With birds there are around 10,000 known species but over 30,000 sub-species.