Red-rumped wheatear
The red-rumped wheatear or buff-rumped wheatear is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in North Africa and the Middle East.
Description
The red-rumped wheatear is a compact, big-headed wheatear with a rufous rump and all dark tail. the male has a grey crown and nape with a black throat and face and white supercilium. The shoulders and back are black with white fringes to the feathers, the rump and base of the tail are rufous and the distal part of the tail is black. Female is paler with a rufous crown and cheeks. Juveniles are similar to females but are less rufous and do show faint spots and streaks. Length is 16 cm. The fly low to the ground with a loose flapping flight that resembles a skylark.Voice
The territorial song, given by both sexes, seems to vary geographically from a harsher chattering song in the west to a more melodious. pleasant and repetitive "twee-churr-urr-urr" in Cyrenaica. The courtship song sounds like an old fashioned boiling kettle, a long warbling whistle rising in pitch given in duet by both sexes. The alarm and contact calls are typically chat like harsh clicks.Distribution and subspecies
There are two recognised subspecies of Red-rumped wheatear, they are:- Oenanthe moesta brooksbanki Meinertzhagen, 1923 - southern Syria and Jordan to north-western Saudi Arabia and south-western Iraq.
- Oenanthe moesta moesta = North Africa from extreme north of Mauritania to coastal north-west Egypt.