Western black-eared wheatear

The western black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica) is a wheatear, a small migratory 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).

Western black-eared wheatear
Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca female

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Genus: Oenanthe
Species:
O. hispanica
Binomial name
Oenanthe hispanica
Range of O. hispanica     Breeding      Passage      Non-breeding
Synonyms

Motacilla hispanica Linnaeus, 1758

Oenanthe hispanica MHNT

The breeding male of the Iberian peninsula and North Africa has the forehead and crown white or nearly white, the mantle buff, and the wings blacker than those of the northern wheatear. The underparts are white tinged with buff. The back, upper tail coverts and most of the tail are white. The ear coverts and a line from the bill, and sometimes the throat, are black (sometimes referred to as dark morph).

In autumn and winter the head and mantle are distinctly buff, as are the underparts, including the throat, but the buff varies in intensity. Except for the central pair, the tail feathers are much whiter than in the northern wheatear, the white on the inner web often extending to the tip.

The female is a browner bird, but has the characteristic lower back, and her seasonal changes are less marked.

Etymology

The genus name Oenanthe is derived from the Ancient Greek oenos (οίνος) "wine" and anthos (ανθός) "flower". It refers to the northern wheatear's return to Greece in the spring just as the grapevines blossom. The specific hispanica is Latin for "Spanish".[2] "Wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a 16th-century linguistic corruption of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.[3]

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Oenanthe hispanica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London, United Kingdom: Christopher Helm. pp. 193, 280. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. "Wheatear". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Further reading

birding.nl/content/journal/pdf/1994-5.pdf Identification of Pied Wheatear and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear] Dutch Birding 16(5): 186-194

  • Ullman, Magnus (2003) Separation of Western and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear Dutch Birding 25: 77-97
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