Pied Wheatear

How to identify

Field marks

1. Male crown white with a slight brown tinge
2. Male black from the face and throat to the upper breast
3. Rump creamy white
4. Tail feathers white, with black markings forming an inverted T

Male, female and young

Female browner, with a sandy-yellow wash on the head; juvenile resembles the female, with pale feather centers giving the upperparts a spotted appearance.

Voice

A harsh “zack zack”; male song low and melodious.

Similar species

Northern Wheatear

Female is darker and looks smaller than female Northern Wheatear, with less white on the rump.

Where and when it's recorded

Pied Wheatear has been recorded at 361 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 48 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Abu Dhabi Golf and Equestrian ClubUnited Arab Emirates471 records
2. Wamm FarmsUnited Arab Emirates454 records
3. Kaliakra CapeBulgaria371 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United Arab EmiratesKenyaEthiopiaKuwaitMongoliaKazakhstanBulgariaChina

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 pied wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) is a wheatear, a small insectivorous 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 (family Muscicapidae). This migratory central Asiatic wheatear occurs from the extreme southeast of Europe to China, and has been found wintering in India and northeastern Africa. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.

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

Questions