Mourning wheatear
| Mourning Wheatear | |
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| Species: | O. lugens
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| Binomial name | |
| Oenanthe lugens (Lichtenstein, 1823)
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The Mourning Wheatear (Oenanthe lugens) is a bird, one of 14 species of wheatear found in the Palearctic region. It is a small passerine in a group formerly classed as members of the Thrush family Turdidae, but now more generally considered to be part of the Old World Flycatcher family Muscicapidae.
The Mourning Wheatear was first described by Lichenstein in 1823. It is an elegant and strikingly beautiful bird found in semi-desert areas in North Africa and the Middle East. It is sexually dimorphic with the females sporting more subtle plumage.
An intriguing dark morph of Mourning Wheatear (the so-called Basalt Wheatear) occurs in the basalt desert of NE Jordan.
Panov (Wheatears of Palearctic, 2005) discusses the latest taxonomy for the Mourning Wheatear superspecies. The Mourning Wheatear is split from Schalow's Wheatear, which is the species found south of the Sahara.
It has been recorded in the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
References
- BirdLife International 2004. Oenanthe lugens. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 26 July 2007.
- Boon, Leo J. R. (2004) 'Mourning Wheatears' illustrated Dutch Birding 26(4): 223-36
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