Hooded Wheatear Oenanthe monacha Scientific name definitions

17·5 cm; 18–23 g. A large, slender-looking wheatear with long bill and relatively large head; legs comparatively short. Male is dull black with white crown (through eye) to nape, white lower back to tail, latter with black central feathers and minor black subterminal markings; white mid-breast to vent; bill and legs black. Female is pale sandy-brown, paler below , with mid-grey wings , pale rusty-brown lower back to tail and vent, tail with mid-grey central feathers and hint of subterminal band. Juvenile is like female, but spotted buff above and scaled blackish below; immature male has indistinct blackish breast, white-tipped wing feathers, and vent and tail as female.

E Egypt (E of Nile), S Sinai, S Israel (S of Dead Sea), W Jordan, Arabian Peninsula (sparsely throughout), Iran and SW Pakistan (W of R Indus).

Desolate desert wadis and ravines, preferably steep-sided, arid open areas on stony or sandy hillsides, wide dry riverbeds with rocks and bushes, quarries and buildings in fields and mountains; often in areas too barren, hot and arid for occupation by other wheatears. On migration in Israel, also saltmarshes and fields. Sea-level to c. 1400 m.

Sedentary, but some wandering in winter, particularly by females. In Israel, some females wander over large areas and/or migrate S to Sinai, and perhaps return to breeding areas for only quite short part of year. In Egypt records from W of R Nile refer only to wintering birds, Nov–Feb; small numbers also appear in N Sudan in winter. In UAE probably winter visitor and local resident, most records late Aug to mid-Apr; in Bahrain winter immigrants from late Oct to late Mar. Also recorded as vagrant in Cyprus, Greece (1 Bekel-Kastrup, H., Kobialka, H., Wegener, D. and Ebels, E.B. (2013). Hooded Wheatear at Nestos delta, Greece, in May 2012 and status in Europe. Dutch Birding. 35: 384–386. Close ) and Turkey (2 Kirwan, G.M., Özen, M., Ertuhan, M. and Atahan, A. (compilers) (2014). Turkey Bird Report 2007–2011. Sandgrouse. 36(2): 146–175. Close ).

Arthropods, including grasshoppers, beetles, dragonflies, butterflies, moths, wasps, bees and ants, larval neuropterans, spiders and ticks. Stomachs of two birds from Iran, Jan and May, held 19 items, of which by number 16% grasshoppers, 16% ants, 42% other hymenopterans, 5% beetles, 5% larval neuropterans, and 5% spiders; of these, 50% smaller than 5 mm, 22% 5–10 mm, 28% 10–20 mm. Forages mainly in air, pursuing flying insects up to 100 m high; flight swift, with sudden steep turns, occasionally complex aerial evolutions. Also scans from perch and drops onto terrestrial prey. Of 16 attacks, 56% were at prey on bare ground and 44% at flying insects. Attracted to goats and camels of Bedouin; visits water troughs to eat large ticks from camels and other livestock, and seen perched on ibex (Capra ibex). Territorial in winter.

Song  , by male from perch or in flight, a series of sweet subdued throaty thrush-like warbled phrases each lasting 2 seconds, interspersed with some “stone-clicking” notes. Subsong, heard once, a soft “chuk chuk weez wez”. Calls include harsh “zack”, rattling “prrup prrup”, and “wit wit” in alarm.