Persian Wheatear Oenanthe chrysopygia Scientific name definitions

14·5 cm; 18–29 g. Plumage is grayish-brown from crown to back, with blackish lores to eye, buff preocular inlinemedia and mid-grey postocular supercilium extending around (rust-tinged) ear-coverts onto chin and breast, and shading to pale brownish on flanks and pale orange-tinged buff on vent; wings mid-brown with broad grey-buff fringes, rump and tail pale rusty, tail with blackish central feathers and terminal band with pale rusty tips; bill and legs black. Sexes similar, female duller. Juvenile is like female but paler.

NE Turkey, S Armenia, Azerbaijan and much of Iran E to S Turkmenistan, S Tajikistan (Pamir range), Afghanistan and extreme W Pakistan; non-breeding Arabian Peninsula, S Iraq, S Iran, E Afghanistan, Pakistan and NW India.

Breeds on gently angled to steep arid rocky and stony slopes and screes with scattered boulders, stony mountain ridges and ravines, and dry fallow fields in remote valleys, sometimes level boulderfields (and flatter areas within territories favoured for foraging), commonly near small or large perennial streams; dominant vegetation sparse dwarf montane shrubs, e.g. in Armenia Paliurus spina-christi, Prunus dulcis and Atraphaxis spinosa, with spring flush of herbs; 2500–4000 m in SW Iran, 2000–2700 m in Afghanistan, 1200–3100 m in Tadjikistan, above 2100 m in Pakistan, 700–1200 m in Armenia. Stays within small territory, perching on cliff face, large rock or low in vegetation. On passage and in winter, Bahrain and Oman, found in rocky hilly country; in Iran from sea-level to 2100 m in warm steppe zones and degraded sub-steppe, and in Pakistan in sand-dune areas, clay flats, scrub desert, low stony hills and rocky ravines.

Mainly migratory. Altitudinal and short-distance migrant in Afghanistan. Present N Iran until early Nov. Scarce but probably regular winter visitor in Bahrain, Oct to early Mar, with small passage late Aug to Oct and Feb to mid-Apr; present Oman on passage and in winter late Aug to Apr. Winter visitor NW India Sept–Apr. There are records in India S to Goa and E to Uttarakhand, as well as at least two in Nepal (1 Sharma, M. and Chaturvedi, D. (2010). Red-tailed Wheatear Oenanthe chrysopygia in Uttarakhand. Indian Birds. 6(6): 172–173. Close ). First return in Transcaucasia from mid-Mar, from end Mar farther E. Recorded in Israel.

Mainly invertebrates, chiefly ants and beetles; some plant matter. Animal food includes adult and larval beetles of at least eleven families, adult and larval lepidopterans of at least seven families, many types of hymenopterans (sawflies, ichneumons, ants, social and solitary wasps, bees), bugs of at least eight families, grasshoppers, locusts, bush-crickets, termites, ant-lion larvae, caddis flies, adult and larval flies of at least three families, spiders, mites, myriapods, woodlice, sandhoppers; one record of small lizard. Plant food includes seeds or fruits of caltrops (Zygophyllaceae), madders (Rubiaceae), figworts (Scrophulariaceae), docks (Polygonaceae), daphnes (Thymeleaceae), mulberry (Morus), leaves and stems of grasses. Stomachs of 55 breeding birds from S Tadjikistan, May–Jul, contained 1338 items comprising, by number, 48% ants, 24% beetles, 9% bugs, 8% other hymenopterans, 5% lepidopterans, 2% spiders, 2% seeds and 2% others. Stomachs of 22 birds Jun–Aug and Oct–Mar from SW Iran contained 901 items, comprising 66% ants, 15% beetles, 9% seeds (Dec–Jan only), 10% various others or unidentified, with 94% of all items less than 1 cm long. In S Tadjikistan, food provided to nestlings 3–9 days old was, by number, 32% noctuid moth caterpillars, 20% beetles, 15% ants, 8% grasshoppers, 7% bugs, 6% termites, 6% spiders, 3% flies and 3% others. Forages either from rock perch with perch-and-pounce method, or on ground with bound-and-grab method; very adept at running over slabs of rock and boulders to take terrestrial prey; also picks items off vegetation, digs in earth with bill, sallies after flying insects (notably when ants, termites and chafers swarming, or else low over water on dull days when other insects slow); hovers low over grassland to drop onto prey. In Iran in winter, 65% of foraging movements were terrestrial dashes, 30% short flights and 5% long flights.

Song  , by male, a series of short simple phrases separated by short pauses (sometimes pauses reduced so that sound continuous), sweet, full, slow and serene, recalling Erithacus rubecula, e.g. “weewee wee wee-urrr” or “wee-urr weee-ee”, also “wee-chu chree” and “watchew-era”; use of mimicry questioned. Female also sings in antagonistic situations when breeding, and in courtship. Subsong a subdued lark-like warbling interspersed with scratchy buzzing sounds, but can be louder and more melodious. Winter song in Kuwait continuous, not in phrases, mostly of whistles and trills and including distinctive “pip-pip-pip, pip-pip-pip, priiiiu”, each series of “pip” rising, the “priiiiu” initially rising and then downslurred; subsong occasionally given in winter. Calls include loud low grating “chek-chek” in agitation, sometimes becoming a snoring rattle, and a whistled “zvee”, the two often combined as “zvee tuk”; also characteristic “thrrr thrrr thrrr”, less harsh than in congeners.

Apr–Jul in Caucasus and Iran, mostly from mid-May farther E; fledged young common and nest-building mid-Jun in S Tadjikistan; Apr–Jun/Jul in Afghanistan and Pakistan; double-brooded. Territory 0·5–3 ha, usually 1·2–1·8 ha, but territories overlap by up to 100 m. Nest a grassy, rather deep cup, lined with fine rootlets and grass, with collection of small stones at entrance, placed in rock hollow inside cave, in wind-fretted hole in cliffs or in old bee-eater (Merops) burrow, distance from entrance hole to nest 20–50 cm (average at ten nests 34 cm); entrance and tunnel floor sometimes consist of several layers or heaps of small stones brought in by female; one site contained 453 stones each weighing 3–4 g, thus likely that cavity used in successive years. Eggs 3–6, white or with slight bluish tinge and with tiny reddish speckles; incubation period 13 days; no information on nestling period.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Generally fairly rare in many parts of range. Uncommon in Armenia, where listed as threatened owing to narrow range and unknown numbers. Scarce to locally common in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Breeding density varies with quality of habitat; 10–20 pairs/km² on rocky hillsides and screes, but up to 40 (20–70) pairs/km² on terraces and side gorges of large river in S Tadjikistan. Widespread and locally common in winter in Oman.