About the Isabelline Wheatear
The isabelline wheatear is a small 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 in the family Muscicapidae. It is a migratory insectivorous bird. Its habitat is steppe and open countryside and it breeds in southern Russia and Central Asia to northern Pakistan, wintering in Africa and northwestern India. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
ID tip
Male and female isabelline wheatear are similar in appearance. The upper-parts are a pale sandy brown with an isabelline tinge (isabelline is a pale grey-yellow, fawn, cream-brown or parchment colour). The lower back is isabelline and the rump and upper tail-coverts are white. The tail feathers are brownish-black with a narrow edge and tip of buff and a large white base. In the outer tail feathers this occupies more than half the length of the feather but in the central feathers it is about one third. There is an over-eye streak of creamy white and the ear-coverts are pale brown.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in France, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Rwanda, Portugal, Slovakia, Seychelles, Japan, South Korea, Thailand.
When to see it
Peak activity in March · a resident species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Western Black-eared WheatearOenanthe hispanicaThe breeding male has the forehead and crown white or nearly white, the mantle buff, and the wings blacker than those of the northern wheatear.
Brown Rock ChatOenanthe fuscaThe brown rock chat is about 17 cm long, larger than the somewhat similar-looking Indian robin.
Desert WheatearOenanthe desertiThe head and nape of the adult male desert wheatear are a pale sandy-grey colour with the feathers tipped grey.
Learn the Isabelline Wheatear for real
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