Desert Wheatear

How to identify

Field marks

1. Male face and throat black, extending to the scapulars
2. Pale supercilium prominent
3. Upperparts pale yellow; underparts white, with pale yellow on the breast

Male, female and young

Female grayer above and yellower below, with no black on the throat; in winter, the male’s black throat is partly obscured by white feather tips.

Where and when it's recorded

Desert Wheatear has been recorded at 308 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 54 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Private estate near Green MubazzarahUnited Arab Emirates1,003 records
2. Tal Chhapar SanctuaryIndia712 records
3. Wamm FarmsUnited Arab Emirates582 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United Arab EmiratesIndiaMoroccoKuwaitOmanMongoliaIsraelChina

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The desert wheatear (Oenanthe deserti) 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). It is a migratory insectivorous species, 14.5 to 15 cm (5.7 to 5.9 in) in length. Both western and eastern forms of the desert wheatear are rare vagrants to western Europe.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions