Desert Wheatear

Desert Wheatear (Male)
Desert Wheatear (Male)
Desert Wheatear (Male winter)
Recordings 

Observations, notes, photos

One more shot of a male bird we saw January 2012 in Al Abraq. Thanks Mike for letting me use the amazing 600 lens!

Aris Vidalis
01/09/2013 - 21:17
Scientific Name 
Oenanthe deserti
Arabic Name 
فقاقة البادية
Kuwaiti name 
حطيبي
Family 
Chats - Old World Flycatchers
Length 
14.5 cm
Least Concern

In Kuwait

Winter
Migrant
Frequent
Non-breeder

Information

Very common passage migrant and common winter visitor. One of the most characteristic wheatears of Kuwait; often in the middle of the desert, but also on open agricultural terrain. In flight note the distinctively all-black tail.
Where in Kuwait 
This desert-dweller spends most of its time on the ground, perching on stones or low bushes and hopping to the ground to catch prey. It inhabits rocky or sandy dry steppes, desert and semi-desert plains with sparse vegetation, as well as salt flats, dry riverbeds and wadis, and arid cultivated land and is typically found in these areas when migrating through Kuwait
In the world 
It has an extremely large range and a population that is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats. It is a migratory insectivorous species and the western Desert Wheatear breeds in the Sahara and the northern Arabian peninsula. The eastern race is found in the semi-deserts of central Asia and in winter in Pakistan and northeast Africa. The best character, in both sexes at all ages, is that the entire tail is black to the level of the uppertail coverts.
Local threats 
Habitat loss and degradation