Birds · Passeriformes · Muscicapidae

Black Wheatear

Oenanthe leucura

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The black wheatear is a bird of the Iberian and North African rocky places, black with a white rump and tail base. It is resident and highly territorial, and occupies cliffs, gorges and sunny stony slopes. Its most striking behaviour is stone-carrying: both sexes carry small stones to the crevice where they are going to breed and build a platform with them that can weigh many times what the bird itself does.

Weight

30 g – 45 g

Size

16 cm – 18 cm

Lifespan

8 years

Diet

Insectivore

Feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

DesertMountainInsectivore Diurnal In pairs Bird Desert Mountain

8countries 20parks14same family

Fun facts

It carries stones to the nest: a pair can move more than a kilo of small stones into the breeding crevice, some fifty times the bird's own weight, and the size of that platform seems to work as a signal of the quality of the territory.
It is in decline in Spain, which holds a substantial share of its world population: the abandonment of grazing and the encroachment of scrub onto rocky slopes are closing up its habitat.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Cliffs, rocky outcrops, gorges and sunny stony slopes of the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa
Sexual maturity: 12 months
Gestation / incubation: 14 days of incubation
Litter / clutch size: 4 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oenanthe_leucura