Most motacillids are ground-feeding insectivores[2] of slightly open country. They occupy almost all available habitats, from the shore to high mountains. Wagtails prefer wetter habitats than the pipits. A few species use forests, including theforest wagtail, and other species use forested mountain streams, such as thegrey wagtail or themountain wagtail.
Motacillids take a wide range of invertebrate prey: insects are the most commonly taken, but also including spiders, worms, and small aquatic molluscs andarthropods. All species seem to be fairly catholic in their diets, and the most commonly taken prey for any particular species or population usually reflects local availability.
With the exception of the forest wagtail, they nest on the ground,[2] laying up to six speckled eggs.
Wagtails, pipits, and longclaws are slender, small to medium-sized passerines, ranging from 14 to 17 cm (5.5 to 6.7 in) in length, with short necks and long tails.[2] They have long, pale legs with long toes and claws, particularly the hind toe, which can be up to 4 cm in length in some longclaws. Nosexual dimorphism in size is seen. Overall, the robust longclaws are larger than the pipits and wagtails.Longclaws can weigh as much as 64 g, as inFülleborn's longclaw, whereas the weight range for pipits and wagtails is 15–31 g, with the smallest species being perhaps theyellowish pipit.[3] Theplumage of most pipits is dull brown and reminiscent of thelarks, although some species have brighter plumages, particularly thegolden pipit of north-east Africa. The adult male longclaws have brightly coloured undersides. The wagtails often have striking plumage, including grey, black, white, and yellow.
Amolecular phylogenetic study published in 2019 sampled 56 of the 68 recognised species in the family Motacillidae and found that the species formed six majorclades. The pipit genusAnthus wasparaphyletic with respect to the longclaw genusMacronyx. Thestriped pipit (Anthus lineiventris) and theAfrican rock pipit (Anthus crenatus) were nested with the longclaws inMacronyx.[4] Thetype species ofAnthus, themeadow pipit, was nested with the other Palearctic species in Clade 2.[5][4]
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