About the White-crowned Wheatear
The white-crowned wheatear, or white-crowned black wheatear is a wheatear, 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, Muscicapidae.
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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.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where the White-crowned Wheatear lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, France, Iran, Malta.
When to see the White-crowned Wheatear
Peak activity in March · a variable species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Variable WheatearOenanthe picataThe variable wheatear is a bird of arid and semi-arid region, and is locally abundant in barren rocky areas, sand dunes with scrub vegetation, cultivation, ravines, outside villages and nomadic encampments.
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).
Black WheatearOenanthe leucuraThis large 16–18 cm long wheatear.
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