Black Wheatear
Oenanthe leucura
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.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
White-crowned Wheatear
Oenanthe leucopyga
This large 17–18 cm long wheatear breeds in stony deserts from the Sahara and Arabia across to Iraq. It is largely resident but has occurred as a rare vagrant to western Europe as far away as Great Britain. It nests in crevices in rocks or walls laying 3-5 eggs. Although most wheatear species have distinctive male and female plumages, adults of both sexes of this species are black except for a white rump and mainly white tail. Full adults have a white crown, not shown by young birds.
ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Where you might meet both
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Play today's Daily BirdPhotos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black Wheatear and White-crowned Wheatear.