Family Old World Flycatchers and Chats (Muscicapidae)
Least Concern
White-crowned Wheatear (Oenanthe leucopyga)
Taxonomy
French: Traquet à tête blanche German: Saharasteinschmätzer Spanish: Collalba yebélica
Other common names:
White-tailed Wheatear
Taxonomy:
Vitiflora leucopyga
C. L. Brehm
, 1855,Kurusku, Upper Egypt
.
Subspecies and Distribution
O. l. leucopyga
(C. L. Brehm, 1855) – W & C Sahara E to Egypt and Sudan, Eritrea and Djibouti.
O. l. ernesti
R. Meinertzhagen, 1930 – S Israel, W & S Jordan and NE Egypt (Sinai) S to C & E Arabia, possibly also Yemen and Oman.
Descriptive notes
17 cm; 23–39 g. Nominate race is glossy black, with white crown (above eye), vent, rump and tail, latter with black central feathers and sometimes a suggestion of (sub)... read more
Voice
Song (mainly by male at dawn and dusk, but female and even young occasionally sing; from perch,... read more
Habitat
Breeding range lies almost entirely within driest and hottest areas of Africa and S Middle East,... read more
Food and feeding
Invertebrates, small vertebrates, some fruit. Beetles (including Buprestidae and tenebrionid larvae), crickets, ant-lions, small wasps,... read more
Breeding
Jan–Feb in Mauritania; Jan–May in N Africa and Sudan, apparent peak Mar–Apr in NW; Mar–Jul in C Sahara; end Feb to... read more
Movements
Sedentary; also local migrant. In NW Africa may move S in winter, with local increases in numbers... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Nominate race sometimes rather local but generally abundant in suitable habitat; density varies, presumably with habitat quality. In Morocco common... read more
Geographical variation possibly clinal; some specimens of nominate race along Red Sea coast indistinguishable from ernesti. Proposed race aegra (W & C Sahara) synonymized with nominate. Two subspecies recognized.