- Oenanthe oenanthe
Identification
14½–16 cm length
White rump, basal tail patches with black centre and terminal band.
Breeding Male
- Grey upperparts
- Buff throat
- Black wings and face mask
- White stripe above the eye
Female
- Sandy-brown above and buff below
- Eye patch and wings are brown
Autumnal male, female and juvenile are browner in the autumn.
Gallery of Northern Wheatear photos. (Click on an image to enlarge it.)
Female
Photo by Jacksnipe
Juvenile
Photo by Nigel Kiteley
In flight
Photo by targetman
Lincs, May 2012
Distribution
Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Greenland.
Europe: Breeds in most of Europe including for example Iceland and the Faroe Islands, in the south only at higher elevation. These populations winter in Africa.
North America and Greenland: Populations breeding in Greenland and eastern Canada migrates to Africa (via western Europe). Populations breeding in Alaska and northwestern Canada migrate by a western route through Asia and the Middle East to eastern Africa south of the Sahara. Both of these populations give rise to vagrants seen further south in the Americas and The Caribbean.
Asia: Breeds across the entire northern half of the continent, migrating to sub-Saharan Africa.
Africa: As long as the taxon O. o. seebohmi is considered part of Northern Wheatear, there are breeding birds in the Atlas Mountains of northwestern Africa. Africa is important as the winter range for almost all populations, in a broad belt from Senegal east to Sudan and south in eastern Africa to Zambia. A few also winter in southwest Asia.
Taxonomy
This thread discusses aspects of Northern Wheatear taxonomy.
Three to four subspecies are currently accepted:[1]
- O. o. leucorhoa (Greenland Wheatear)
- O. o. oenanthe
- British Isles to Mediterranean, Siberia and Alaska; migrates to central and eastern Africa.
- O. o. libanotica
- Southern Spain and Balearic Is. to Iran, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Marginally paler and longer-billed.
- O. o. seebohmi (Seebohm's Wheatear)
- Morocco to north-eastern Algeria; migrates to Mauritania. Black throat on males; females greyer-toned than O. o. oenanthe.
- Split as a separate species Oenanthe seebohmi by some authors[2].
Habitat
Rocky tundra, grazed slopes with short turf and rocky outcrops, hill pastures, sand dunes.
Behaviour
Diet
Diet includes insects, some berries.
Breeding
Nest is on ground on dry tundra, usually in hole in a wall, under stones, or in old rabbit burrow. and is a cup of grass, twigs, weeds, lined with finer material such as moss, lichens, rootlets. The clutch is usually 5-6 pale blue eggs; unmarked, or with fine reddish brown dots, which are incubated by the female for 13-14 days.
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Oenanthe oenanthe (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
References
- Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Svensson, L., Mullarney, K., & Zetterström, D. (2009). Collins Bird Guide, 2nd edition. Collins ISBN 978 0 00 726814 6
- Wikipedia
- Birdwatchers Pocket Guide ISBN 1-85732-804-3
- houghtonmifflinbooks
- BF member personal observation
