Eastern Black-eared Wheatear
Oenanthe melanoleuca
A small, slim wheatear. Males striking: black wings contrast with a whitish back and crown and a black mask through the eye. Throat can be white or black. Females have a more muted version of the male’s overall pattern. The tail has a complicated black-and-white pattern that is conspicuous in flight. Found in open habitats with scattered trees, including savanna, rocky mountain slopes, and barren pastures. The song is a quick, exuberant jumble of scratchy notes. Very similar to Western Black-eared Wheatear, but usually distinguished by being much paler and more washed-out overall, with only a hint of a yellowish wash on the head, back, and breast. Also similar to Pied Wheatear, but male’s black face patch is not connected to the black wing, and female is slightly warmer and browner than the grayish female Pied.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Oenanthe melanoleuca
- Authority
- (Güldenstädt, 1775)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Oenanthe
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : sc, se Europe through the Middle East to Iran and sw Kazakhstan
- Non-breeding range
- ne Africa
Photos
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Malagasy Palm Swift
Cypsiurus gracilis
A very slender gray-brown swift with a long, deeply forked tail that is often held closed, making it look needle-like and pointed. The erratic flight pattern, with frequent direction changes and rapid wingbeats on long, scythe-shaped wings, is distinctive. Less gregarious than other swifts; usually found in pairs or small flocks, and association with other swallows and swifts is usually only fleeting. Forages over a wide variety of habitats with palms, including savanna, coastal scrub, towns, villages, cultivated areas, forest edge, and clearings, from sea level up to 1100 meters of elevation, preferring lowlands. Nests and roosts in palms, especially Hyphaene, Bismarckia, and coconut palms. Gives a high-pitched, metallic “tre-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit” call, solitarily or in unison with others. Separated from other swifts by its longer and thinner tail. Further separated from the larger Madagascar Swift by its much weaker and more fluttering flight.
Moustached Antpitta
Grallaria alleni
Medium-sized antpitta. Typical antpitta shape: plump and short-tailed with long legs, like a grapefruit on stilts. Mostly brown with a brighter cinnamon belly and grayish crown. Note blotchy white mustache stripe. Very similar in appearance to Scaled Antpitta but typically occurs at slightly higher elevations. Moustached has a less pronounced scaly pattern on the upperparts, browner cheeks, and a slower, higher-pitched song without a stutter in the middle than Scaled Antpitta. Fairly rare and local within limited range in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. Occurs in mossy cloud forest in the lower subtropics from around 1,850–2,000 m. Very rarely seen; typically stays hidden in the dense understory, occasionally hopping onto forest trails at dawn or dusk.
Red-crowned Woodpecker
Melanerpes rubricapillus
Medium-sized woodpecker found from Costa Rica to northern South America. Pale buffy overall with a red nape and belly and black-and-white barring on the back. Female has a pale crown with restricted red on the back of the nape; male has red extending to top of crown. Common in open woodlands, second growth, and gardens. Distinctive in range, but hybridizes extensively with Hoffmann’s Woodpecker on the Pacific slope in Costa Rica. Hybrids usually show orange nape and belly.
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