Family Old World Flycatchers and Chats (Muscicapidae)

Least Concern

Heuglin's Wheatear (Oenanthe heuglinii)

Taxonomy

French: Traquet de Heuglin German: Heuglinsteinschmätzer Spanish: Collalba de Heuglin

Taxonomy:

Saxicola Heuglini

Heuglin#R

, 1869,

“Gondar”; error = Sudan

See O. bottae. Proposed race campicolina (Cameroon) synonymized. Monotypic.

Distribution:

S Mauritania, Mali and NE Guinea E to S Sudan, South Sudan, W Ethiopia (Gambela National Park), NE Uganda and NW Kenya. Recently recorded breeding in SE Senegal (Dande, in Kédougou Region#R).

Descriptive notes

13–14 cm; 17–23 g. Resembles O. frenata, but smaller, with narrower white supercilium, and buffier breast (dull fulvous) indistinctly demarcated from... read more

Voice

Song, sometimes on moonlit nights, a series of extended variable phrases, each 30–60 seconds... read more

Habitat

Dry, bare or short-grass areas in flat stony ground or on boulder-strewn hillsides, degraded... read more

Food and feeding

Feeds on insects. Occurs in small groups outside breeding season. Rather shy.

Breeding

Dec–Apr (late dry season) in Nigeria and Cameroon and Mar in Sudan; sometimes two broods. Nest a cup of coarse dry grass lined with... read more

Movements

Apparently sedentary in Ethiopia, but at least partial migrant elsewhere. At start of rains in Apr/... read more

Status and conservation

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Uncommon in W Eritrea and W highlands of Ethiopia; generally frequent to common across broad sub-Saharan range, although abundance... read more

Bibliography

Public comments

Recommended citation

Collar, N. & Christie, D.A. (2019). Heuglin's Wheatear (Oenanthe heuglinii). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/58553 on 13 December 2019).

Scientific classification

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Muscicapidae

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In past, traditionally treated as an outsize family that also included expanded versions of Sylviidae, Timaliidae and Turdidae; these three were subsequently split off as three separate families, but still in much expanded form as compared to their current treatment. Since publication of HBW, limits of all these families have been dramatically rewritten due to a barrage of occasionally contradictory molecular data. Within present family problems remain, particularly due to incomplete taxon sampling, but near-complete screening to species level has now been attempted for at least a handful of genera (notably Oenanthe and Saxicola), and large elements of consensus have emerged, among them the recognition of four principal lineages, here treated as subfamilies. Most notable development involves transfer of many genera from Turdidae to present family, including Alethe, Cichladusa, Heteroxenicus, Brachypteryx, Heinrichia, Myophonus, Monticola, Thamnolaea, Myrmecocichla, Pogonocichla, Swynnertonia, Stiphrornis, Sheppardia, Cossypha, Xenocopsychus, Irania, Luscinia, Erithacus, Tarsiger, Cercotrichas, Copsychus, Phoenicurus, Saxicola and Oenanthe. Genetic sampling has also revealed extensive paraphyly, with the result that many species have switched genera. Some genera have disappeared completely into synonymy (e.g. Erythropygia), and others have shrunk to just one or two species (e.g. Luscinia), while a few have become substantially larger (e.g. Cercotrichas, Oenanthe).

Subfamily: Saxicolinae

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Apart from Vauriella and Ficedula, all genera previously placed in Turdidae.

Genus: Oenanthe Vieillot, 1816

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Extensively tested in recent molecular studies, where some species complexes show very low (sometimes virtually no) genetic differentiation, making assessment of species limits using such methodology alone extremely difficult#R #R #R #R #R #R; this research has also revealed notable paraphyly with other closely related genera, resulting in: inclusion herein of most species formerly treated in Cercomela, and one hitherto placed in Pentholaea, as well as removal of one species from Oenanthe to Myrmecocichla.

See full taxonomic structure and notes