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The animals on the cover of Git for Teams are the pied wagtail (Motacilla alba), the grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea), and the yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava).

The genus name Motacilla means “moving tail,” and as their common name suggests, these small, energetic birds are known for fanning their long tails up and down, though the reasons for this behavior are not certain. On average, these birds measure 6 inches long and weigh up to .8 ounces.

The wagtail feeds on small insects and occasionally forages near groups of cattle in order to capture the insects they disturb. It also nests on the ground, laying 4–7 eggs at a time.

Wagtails are widely distributed, breeding throughout Europe and Asia and sometimes migrating to tropical areas of Africa. They favor open country, such as farmlands and grasslands. However, all three species have suffered severe declines in recent years, possibly due to changes in agriculture.

Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world. To learn more about how you can help, go to animals.oreilly.com.

The cover image is from Wood’s Illustrated Natural History. The cover fonts are URW Typewriter and Guardian Sans. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.