Family Old World Flycatchers and Chats (Muscicapidae)
Least Concern
Blackstart (Oenanthe melanura)
Taxonomy
French: Traquet à queue noire German: Schwarzschwanz-Steinschmätzer Spanish: Colinegro común
Taxonomy:
Saxicola melanura
Temminck
, 1824,Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
.
Subspecies and Distribution
O. m. ultima
(Bates, 1933) – E Mali and W Niger, possibly also NE Burkina Faso.
O. m. airensis
(E. J. O. Hartert, 1921) – N Niger (Aïr) E to C Sudan, possibly also SW Egypt (Gebel Uweinat)#R.
O. m. melanura
(Temminck, 1824) – extreme S Syria (Yarmuk Valley), E & S Israel, Jordan and extreme NE Egypt (Sinai) S to NW and interior C & S Arabia.
O. m. neumanni
(Ripley, 1952) – SW Saudi Arabia, W & S Yemen and SW Oman.
O. m. lypura
(Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) – EC & E Sudan (E from Kordofan), and SE Egypt (Gebel Elba) S to Eritrea and N & EC Ethiopia.
O. m. aussae
(Thesiger & Meynell, 1934) – extreme NE Ethiopia, Djibouti and N Somalia.
Descriptive notes
14 cm; 13–18 g. Rather long-legged and slender chat. Nominate race is dull pale blue-tinged grey above, forehead and ear-coverts sometimes washed brownish, with darker... read more
Voice
Song, by male through most of year (infrequently in autumn), a series of short rapid variable... read more
Habitat
Rocky hilly terrain, including dissected subdesert, stony desert with acacia and tamarisk, dry... read more
Food and feeding
Adult insects (including beetles and ants) and caterpillars reported in Middle East; also berries, including Lycium shawii. Food... read more
Breeding
Apr–Jun in Mali and May–Jul in Niger; May in Sudan; Feb–Apr in Ethiopia; May–Jun (probably also Mar–Apr) in... read more
Movements
Mainly sedentary. Possibly only a summer visitor to Gebel Elba, in SE Egypt, and records in N Egypt... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Frequent to common. Density along two wadis found to be c. 1 pair/250 m. Common at Tibesti and S to Largeau, in Chad. Locally common in Sudan from... read more
Species often given as erlangeri, but that name invalid, as preoccupied. Race ultima individually highly variable, possibly not distinct from airensis. Six subspecies recognized.