Wheatear from Israel (1 Viewer)

Hello

I have this wheatear that keeps nagging me. It was seen on 31st of March 2014 at Yotvata, Eilat, Israel.

The bird has been judged as a female Eastern Black-eared Wheatear (melanoleuca) but several things look odd imo. E.g. do the underwings look very black, indicating a male bird. Also the tail bar looks is very broad, rather atypical of melanoleuca/hispanica. And the mantle colour is rather greyish somewhat off for melanoleuca, imo.

Other options could be Pied or Finsch's Wheatear. Females of the latter species can be rather "male-like" but can they also show dark underwing coverts/axillaries?

And what about the peach colouration to the breast, does that exclude other species than melanoleuca?

Are these images of the same bird? It looks like several species at once!

Instead, the breast suggests a melanoleuca.
The eyebrow suggests a Pied.
Maybe a hybrid of the two.
Jean

What excludes Finsch's?

Is a tail bar like the one on this bird possible for Black-eared or Pied?

Can females of either three species show dark (like typical males) underwing?

A video of the bird from Yotvata can btw can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/402514661

RSNaarhus said:

What excludes Finsch's?

Click to expand...

Nothing indeed.
Jean

I don’t know about the underwing but I think the peachy toned breast excludes Finsch’s and yes, a tail bar such as shown by this bird is possible on both Black-eared and Pied. I would lean towards the former on what we can see on these images.