poorly wagtail..

[actionfinch]

Mid afternoon ,i was looking out the kitchen window..to my surprise i see this little wagtail.. i rushed to get my camera , and when i got back i noticed it had a poorly leg/foot.It seemed happy enough hoping round eating , it even flew off at one point and then came back for seconds....
any ideas what could have happened to it for its foot to be like that?
Not only that , it was the first time i see one in the garden, i take it the cold snap drew it in, It was on its own as well.
we have loads at work , and see them in pairs .

[Farplace]

Hard to tell exactly what's happened here. My gut feeling is that it has been fractured. It may be an old injury which has healed "wrong" as the bird looks in good health.

[actionfinch]

yeah it did , was around for a while, it even flew up to the bird box, cant be sure mind , but it took off in that direction. the box is above the kitchen window.

[Wild-Woman]

It's quite incredible how some wild birds live with significant injuries. Just lately I saw a gull minus one of its legs. It was managing to feed and fly, it just used its wings moreso to get its balance once it was down. I've also seen a redshank with a crippled foot but it didn't seem to bother it too much.