Pied wheatear

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Pied wheatear
Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) (8079431820).jpg
Male
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Oenanthe
Species:
O. pleschanka
Binomial name
Oenanthe pleschanka
(Lepechin, 1770)
OenanthePleschankaIUCNver2018 2.png
Range of O. pleschanka
  Breeding
  Non-breeding
Synonyms [2]
  • Oenanthe leucomela
  • Oenanthe somalica
  • Oenanthe vittata

The pied wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) is a wheatear, a small insectivorous passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher (family 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.

Contents

The male is a boldly marked white-and-black bird. The white crown tinged with brown contrasts with the black face and throat and white rump. The female is browner, and the head is washed with sandy buff. Females are darker than the females of the northern wheatear, look smaller and show less white on the rump. The tail feathers are white with characteristic black markings, which form an inverted black "T" pattern that resembles the tail of the western black-eared wheatear. This 14 centimetres (5.5 in) bird nests in open, stony, sparsely vegetated regions, laying four to six eggs in a hole, under a stone or in a rock crevice. The pied wheatear primarily eats insects but will also take seeds.

Etymology

The genus name Oenanthe is derived from the Ancient Greek oenos (οίνος) "wine" and anthos (ανθός) "flower". It refers to the northern wheatear's return to Greece in the spring just as the grapevines blossom. Pleschanka is the Russian name for the pied wheatear and refers to the white cap (plesch is a bald spot on the head). [3] "Wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a 16th-century linguistic corruption of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species. [4]

Description

The crown, nape and neck of the adult male pied wheatear are pale brown, the feathers having pale tips and white bases. The mantle and scapulars are black with buff tips to the feathers. The back, rump and upper tail-coverts are creamy-white. The central pair of tail feathers are black with white bases but the rest are white with black tips, the outer pair having rather more black than the rest. There is a narrow buff-coloured line extending from the base of the beak to over the eye and the lores, ear coverts, chin, throat and upper breast are black. The rest of the breast is buff, the belly creamy-buff and the underwing coverts and axillaries are black tipped with white. The wing feathers are black with tips and edgings of creamy-buff. The bird moults in late summer and by the following year, the edges of the feathers are abraded and the crown and nape are white and the mantle, scapulars and wings black. The beak, legs and feet are black and the eyes dark brown. The length is about 5.75 inches (146 mm). [5]

Female in Bulgaria BGOenantheOenantheFemale.jpg
Female in Bulgaria

The adult female is similar to the male but the mantle and scapulars are brown with buff tips rather than black, the tail feathers are brown and white and the wing feathers brown with buff tips. Again, abrasion wears of the tips of the feathers and the bird becomes more uniformly brown and white with creamy buff underparts. The female is slightly smaller than the male. The juvenile is similar to the female but the feathers of the brown upperparts have pale centres near the tips giving the bird a speckled appearance. [5]

The voice is a harsh zack zack. The song is low-pitched and musical and is performed by the male in early summer and again in August. It consists of a variable, imitative series of notes, sometimes lark-like and sometimes whistling, pouring out in a continual stream. It is sung from a perch on a rock or other high place or in the air during flight. [5]

Distribution and habitat

The pied wheatear is native to Southeast Europe and Western Asia. The breeding range extends from Romania and Bulgaria to Siberia, Altai and Mongolia and southwards to the Caucasus, Transcaspia, Turkestan, Iran and Afghanistan. [6] It occurs at altitudes of up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) in the Altai and up to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in the Tien Shan. It migrates to Northeast Africa, passing through Southwest Asia on the way. In the breeding season it is found in rough open country, steppes with scant vegetation, stony slopes and hilly country. In its winter quarters it is found in similar locations with rock, scree and on plains with thorny scrub. It sometimes visits grassy areas and gardens. It has occurred as a vagrant in Italy, Heligoland and Scotland. [5]

Behaviour

The pied wheatear is rather shy but is conspicuous when spotted. It is not gregarious and single birds or pairs are found in rough, rocky countryside. It likes to perch on a bush or rock, alert and looking around and bobbing its tail up and down. [5] When it spots a prey item it swoops down to the ground briefly to pick it up before returning to its perch. [5] Its diet consists of small invertebrates such as ants, grasshoppers, beetles, flies and moths and their larvae, spiders and mites, and seeds are also eaten. [5]

Breeding

The nest is made in holes in a riverbank, under stones and rocks and in crevices. It is made from dried grass stems and lined with slender roots and a few downy feathers. Four to six greenish-blue eggs with rust-coloured spots on the larger end are laid from early May onwards. They average 19.3 by 15.1 millimetres (0.76 in × 0.59 in) and there is normally a single brood. [5]

Status

The pied wheatear has a wide range across Eastern Europe and Western Asia and is common across that range. There are estimated to be somewhere between 96,000 and 420,000 individuals in Europe. As Europe forms 5 to 24% of the global range, the total population may be in the region of 400,000-8,400,000 individuals. The population is believed to be stable with no particular threats so the bird is rated as being of "Least Concern" by Birdlife International. [7]

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Wheatear Genus of birds

The wheatears are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe. They were formerly considered to be members of the thrush family, Turdidae, but are now more commonly placed in the flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. This is an Old World group, but the northern wheatear has established a foothold in eastern Canada and Greenland and in western Canada and Alaska.

Isabelline wheatear Species of bird

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Desert wheatear Species of bird

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Western black-eared wheatear Species of bird

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Rufous-tailed scrub robin Species of bird

The rufous-tailed scrub robin is a medium-sized member of the family Muscicapidae. Other common names include the rufous scrub robin, rufous bush chat, rufous bush robin and the rufous warbler. It breeds around the Mediterranean and east to Pakistan. It also breeds south of the Sahara from the Sahel region east to Somalia; these African birds are sometimes considered to be a separate species, the African scrub robin. It is partially migratory, wintering in Africa and India. This is a very rare visitor to northern Europe.

Hooded wheatear Species of bird

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Capped wheatear Species of bird

The capped wheatear is a small insectivorous passerine bird 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.

Hooded mannikin Species of bird

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Grasshopper buzzard Species of bird

The grasshopper buzzard is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which is found in a narrow zone of sub-Saharan Africa north of the equator.

Mantled hawk Species of bird

The mantled hawk is a South American species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae.

Angolan batis Species of bird

The Angolan batis is a species of bird in the family Platysteiridae. It is found in western central Africa.

Red-rumped wheatear Species of bird

The red-rumped wheatear or buff-rumped wheatear is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in North Africa and the Middle East.

Kurdish wheatear Species of bird

The Kurdish wheatear, also known as the Kurdistan wheatear, the chestnut-rumped wheatear or the red-rumped wheatear, is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. The red-tailed wheatear was formerly considered a subspecies of this bird but is now often regarded as a separate species. The two may intergrade in Iran but it is also possible that the rather differently coloured cummingi is in fact a one-year-old O. xanthoprymna with intermediate plumage.

Miombo pied barbet Species of bird

The miombo pied barbet is a species of bird in the family Lybiidae. It is found in south-central Africa.

Red-tailed wheatear Species of bird

The red-tailed wheatear, also known as the rusty-tailed wheatear, Persian wheatear or Afghan wheatear, is a small passerine bird breeding in mountainous areas of south-west and central Asia. It belongs to the wheatear genus Oenanthe which was formerly placed in the thrush family Turdidae but is now in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. The red-tailed wheatear used to be considered a subspecies of the Kurdish wheatear but is now often regarded as a separate species.

Eastern black-eared wheatear Species of bird

The eastern black-eared wheatear is a wheatear, a small migratory passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher. It was formerly considered conspecific with the western black-eared wheatear.

Atlas wheatear Subspecies of bird

The Atlas wheatear, also known as the black-throated wheatear or Seebohm's wheatear, is a small passerine bird which breeds in the Maghreb region of North Africa and winters in the western Sahel. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern wheatear as O. o. seebohmi, but was reclassified as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Oenanthe pleschanka". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22710308A87927176. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22710308A87927176.en . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. "Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) (Lepechin, 1770)". Avibase. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. pp.  280, 310. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. "Wheatear" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Witherby, H. F., ed. (1943). Handbook of British Birds, Volume 2: Warblers to Owls. H. F. and G. Witherby Ltd. pp. 160–163.
  6. "Pied Chat (Oenanthe leucomela leucomela)". AVIS IBIS. Foundation for Ecological Security. Archived from the original on 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  7. "Pied Wheatear: Oenanthe pleschanka". BirdLife International. Retrieved 2013-08-13.

Further reading