#wheatears

What's in a name? Quite a lot! Take, for example, the desert wheatear. Though this bird does live in the desert, it's common name has nothing to do with wheat or ears! Instead, it is a corruption of the 16th century name "white" and "arse", referencing the bird's white rump.

Northern Wheatear - Chasco-cinzento (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (23/10/2025)

Photo: Allan Drewitt

"On fall weekends in the northeast, birders sometimes hope (but never expect) to find a Wheatear. This small chat enters the North American arctic from both directions, via both Greenland and Alaska, but almost all go back to the Old World in winter; only the occasional straggler appears south of Canada. Northern Wheatears can be found in summer on rocky tundra, where they are inconspicuous until they fly, flashing their tail pattern. In the Old World there are almost 20 species of wheatears, most of them in desert regions."

Male Wheatear. Archibald Thorburn (1860-1935)

Wheatears

Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe

Northern Wheatear - Chasco-cinzento (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (23/09/2025)

Northern Wheatear - Chasco-cinzento (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (8/10/2025)

Northern Wheatear - Chasco-cinzento (Oenanthe oenanthe)

Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (23/09/2025)