Arabian Wheatear - BirdForum Opus

Photo by ali alblowi

Oenanthe lugentoides

Identification

14–16 cm

• White crown
• Black facial mask, continues through to the wings
• Long tail

Distribution

Middle East: found only on the Arabian Peninsula in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman.

Taxonomy

Female
Photo by mikemik
Sanaa, Yemen, November 2012

Formerly included in Abyssinian Wheatear or Mourning Wheatear, and still is by some authorities.^[2]..

Subspecies

Two subspecies recognized^[1]:

• O. l. lugentoides in western Arabia (Taif to Yemen)
• O. l. boscaweni in southern Arabia (Hadramaut)

Habitat

Desert and mountains, boulder slopes.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists of a variety of insects.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2014. IOC World Bird Names (version 4.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved November 2014)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Arabian Wheatear. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Arabian_Wheatear

External Links

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