Western Black-eared Wheatear
Oenanthe hispanica
A small, slim wheatear. Males striking: black wings contrast with a yellowish 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. Very similar to Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, but usually distinguished by more extensive and warmer yellow 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 warmer and browner than the grayish female Pied. Call is a dry, hoarse “chercher.” Song is a short jumble of primarily descending trills and harsher notes.
Taxonomy
In 1743 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the western black-eared wheatear in his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Red or Russet-colour’d Wheat-Ear". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a specimen owned by Mark Catesby that had been collected in Gibraltar. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the western black-eared wheatear with the wagtails in the genus Motacilla. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Motacilla hispanica and cited Edwards' work. The specific epithet is from the Latin Hispanicus meaning "Spanish". The western black-eared wheatear is now placed in the genus Oenanthe that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The western black-eared wheatear was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern black-eared wheatear (Oenanthe melanoleuca). The species were split based on the results of a genetic study of the wheatears published in 2019.<p>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". "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.
- Scientific name
- Oenanthe hispanica
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Oenanthe
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- PAL : sw, sc Europe and nw Africa
- Non-breeding range
- w Africa
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Bird Calls
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