Variable Wheatear (Oenanthe picata)
About the Variable Wheatear
The variable wheatear (Oenanthe picata) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan. Its natural habitat is hot deserts. The variable wheatear is a bird of arid and semi-arid region, and is locally abundant in barren rocky areas, sand dunes with scrub vegetation, cultivation, ravines, outside villages and nomadic encampments. It is polymorphic and has three distinct morphs. Black-bellied phase (opistholeuca). Male (adult). Entirely jet black except rump, under tail-coverts, base and sides of tail which are white; central rectrices and terminal band of tail black. Female has black parts replaced by sooty black.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 17 recordings for this species: 11 CC BY-NC-ND · 3 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in India, United Arab Emirates in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Desert WheatearOenanthe desertirecording
- Northern WheatearOenanthe oenantherecording
- Pied WheatearOenanthe pleschankarecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.