Black Wheatear
Oenanthe leucura
The Black Wheatear (Oenanthe leucura) is a uncommon chats, old world flycatchers, and alli found in 9 countries, weighing about 41 g. The black wheatear is a wheatear, a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae.
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.
How to identify it
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.
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in France, Mauritania, Finland.
When to see it
The Black Wheatear can be seen all year round, with peak activity in April. It is a resident species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Black Wheatear?
- This large 16–18 cm long wheatear. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Black Wheatear?
- The Black Wheatear is a small sized bird weighing about 41 g.
- Where can you see a Black Wheatear?
- The Black Wheatear occurs in 9 countries, including Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Algeria.
- What birds look similar to a Black Wheatear?
- The Black Wheatear is most easily confused with the Blackstart, the Pied Wheatear and the White-crowned Wheatear.
- Is the Black Wheatear endangered?
- The Black Wheatear is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Black Wheatear for real
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