Pied Wheatear

Pied Wheatear
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Genus:	Oenanthe
Species:	O. pleschanka
Binomial name
Oenanthe pleschanka (Lepechin, 1770)

The Pied Wheatear, Oenanthe pleschanka, is a wheatear, a small insectivorous passerine that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae.

This migratory central Asiatic wheatear occurs from the extreme southeast of Europe to China, and has been found wintering in India and northeastern Africa. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

In summer the male is a white and black bird. The white crown tinged with grey contrasts with the black face and throat. The female is browner, and the head is washed with sandy buff. Females are darker than Northern Wheatear, look smaller and showed less white on the rump.

The tail and rump are white, with an inverted black T giving a pattern like Black-eared Wheatear. This 13.5-14.5 cm bird nests on open, stony, sparsely vegetated habitats, laying 4-6 eggs in a rock crevice. It eats insects and berries.

Riyadh, KSA, Sept 1993

References

1. ^ BirdLife International (2004). Oenanthe pleschanka. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

Further reading

Identification

• Ullman, Magnus (1994) Identification of Pied Wheatear and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear Dutch Birding 16(5): 186-194
• Ullman, Magnus (2003) Separation of Western and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear Dutch Birding 25: 77-97