About the Red-tailed Wheatear
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.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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It is 14.5 cm long with a wingspan of 26–27 cm and a weight of about 20-27 g. The plumage is fairly drab, mainly grey-brown above and greyish-white below. It has a faint pale stripe over the eye, a rufous tinge to the ear-coverts and silvery-white underwing-coverts. The rump and bases of the outer tail-feathers are reddish while the rest of the tail is black forming a T-shaped pattern. There is little difference between males and females but the male has black between the eye and bill. The female Kurdistan wheatear can be very similar but usually has white bases to the outer tail-feathers.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where the Red-tailed Wheatear lives
When to see the Red-tailed Wheatear
Peak activity in November · a winter visitor species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Finsch's WheatearOenanthe finschiiA medium-sized elegant wheatear with long wings and long legs.
Hume's WheatearOenanthe albonigraHume's wheatear is a large wheatear with a dark black head and back contrasting sharply with a pure white breast and belly.
Mourning WheatearOenanthe lugensThe mourning wheatear measures 14–16 cm (5.5–6.3 in) in length and weighs between 19–25 g (0.67–0.88 oz).
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