Kurdish Wheatear
Oenanthe xanthoprymna
A medium-sized wheatear with distinct sexual dimorphism. Male has black bib, black wings, gray upperparts, and cinnamon undertail and uppertail feathers. Female is gray-brown overall with a cinnamon tail base, and sometimes has a darker throat. Breeds on open, rocky mountain sides and valleys. Winters in arid mountainous and hilly habitats. Song is short and buzzy, somewhat similar to that of Persian Wheatear.
Identification
The Kurdish wheatear is about 14 centimetres (5.5 in) in length. The top of the head and the nape of the male are pale grey, separated by a white eye stripe from the black face and throat. The back is brownish grey and the underparts white or buff. The wings are charcoal with no white streak, the flight feathers being edged with brown. The flanks and under-tail coverts are orange and the tail white at the base with a dark terminal band. The female has similar markings but the colours are more muted and the dark face and throat replaced by a grey eye patch. The orange rump and tail coverts are particularly noticeable in the winter when the male is in flight.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Oenanthe xanthoprymna
- Authority
- (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Oenanthe
Range and habitat
The breeding range of the Kurdish wheatear covers the Middle East, south-east Turkey, northern Iraq, western Iran, and parts of the former USSR. It moves southwards in winter to southern Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and north-east Somalia and occasionally to north west India. It is unclear whether all populations migrate or whether some birds just move down to lower altitudes for the winter. Its preferred habitat is heathland, open hillsides and scrubby, semi-desert regions. It is listed as being of "least concern" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because of its very large range.
- Breeding range
- PAL : e Turkey, w Iran and far nw, ne Iraq
- Non-breeding range
- ne AF
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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