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RockyCavity nestSmall · 41 g
ID tip
This large 16–18 cm long wheatear. The male of this species is all black except a white rump and mainly white tail. The female is similar, but dark brown rather than black. It has a loud thrush-like song. The similar white-crowned wheatear (Oenanthe leucopyga) also breeds in the African part of the black wheatear's range, but the black wheatear has a black inverted "T" on its white tail, whereas white-crowned has only a black centre to its tail. The black wheatear never has a white crown, but young white-crowned wheatears also lack this feature.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Black Wheatear
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is April, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Black Wheatear
The map shades 6 countries with regular records, and 3 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in France, Mauritania, Finland.
About the Black Wheatear
The black wheatear is a wheatear, a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found in the Iberian Peninsula and western North Africa.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
BlackstartOenanthe melanuraThe blackstart is around 14 cm (5.5 in) in length with a wingspan of 23–27 cm (9.1–10.6 in) and a weight of around 15 g (0.53 oz).
Pied WheatearOenanthe pleschankaThe crown, nape and neck of the adult male pied wheatear are pale brown, the feathers having pale tips and white bases.
White-crowned WheatearOenanthe leucopygaThis large 17–18 cm long wheatear breeds in stony deserts from the Sahara and Arabia across to Iraq.
Side by side: Black Wheatear vs Pied Wheatear · Black Wheatear vs Blackstart · Black Wheatear vs White-crowned Wheatear
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