From Opus

Photo by Paul Hackett

Oenanthe oenanthe

[edit] 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
  

Photo by Jacksnipe
Female

Female

• Sandy-brown above and buff below
• Eye patch and wings are brown
  

Autumnal male, female and juvenile are browner in the autumn.

[edit] Distribution

Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and Greenland.

[edit] Taxonomy

Oenanthe oenanthe has four subspecies:^[1]

• O. o. leucorhoa

• North-eastern Canada to Greenland and Iceland; migrates to western Africa

• O. o. oenanthe

• British Isles to Mediterranean and Siberia; migrates to central Africa

• O. o. libanotica

• Southern Spain and Balearic Is. to Iran, Kazakhstan and Mongolia

• O. o. seebohmi

• Morocco to north-eastern Algeria; migrates to Mauritania
• This thread discusses the possibility that seebohmi may be a separate species

[edit] Habitat

Rocky tundra, barren slopes, hill pastures, sand dunes.

Photo by Nigel Kiteley
Juvenile, Draycote Water

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Diet

Diet includes insects, some berries.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] References

1. 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. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Wikipedia
3. Birdwatchers Pocket Guide ISBN 1-85732-804-3
4. houghtonmifflinbooks
5. Collins Field Guide 6th Edition

[edit] External Links