- Oenanthe leucura
Identification
16-18 cm
Male - all black apart from white rump, vent and proximal sides of tail, which has what looks like a black inverted T-shape. In flight has a white flash on the underside of the wing.
Female - similar, dark brown rather than black.
Similar species
Juvenile White-crowned Wheatear lacks white crown and is best separated by much less black on outer tail feathers giving a different tail pattern. The "Basalt" form of Mourning Wheatear does not overlap in range by a large margin.
Distribution
Western north Africa and Iberia.
Taxonomy
Subspecies[1]
There are 2 subspecies:
- O. l. leucura:
- O. l. riggenbachi:
- Extreme north-western Mauritania to Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya
Habitat
Cliffs and rocky slopes.
Behaviour
Breeding
It nests in crevices in rocks laying 3-6 eggs.
Diet
The diet includes insects.
References
- Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Grant, P.J., K. Mullarney, L. Svensson, D. Zetterstrom (1999) Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe. Harpercollins Pub Ltd ISBN 0 00 219728 6
- Collar, N. (2020). Black Wheatear (Oenanthe leucura), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blawhe1.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black Wheatear. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 14 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black_Wheatear
External Links
Use Oenanthe leucura to
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GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
