Mediterranean wheatear

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Mediterranean wheatear
Mediterranean wheatear (Oenanthe h. Melanoleuca), male

Mediterranean wheatear ( Oenanthe h. Melanoleuca ), male

Systematics
Order : Passerines (Passeriformes)
Subordination : Songbirds (passeri)
Family : Flycatcher (Muscicapidae)
Subfamily : Schmätzer (Saxicolinae)
Genre : Wheatear ( Oenanthe )
Type : Mediterranean wheatear
Scientific name
Oenanthe hispanica
( Linnaeus , 1758)

The Black-eared Wheatear ( Oenanthe hispanica ) is a bird art from the family of flycatchers (Muscicapidae). This rather small, slender and long-tailed wheatear colonizes parts of the southern Palearctic from northwest Africa and Portugal to the east and parts of southern Europe to the south of Iran . The Mediterranean wheatear is largely native to the Mediterranean zonelimited. He inhabits dry, open landscapes in which exposed rocks, stone corridors or areas of clay or sand with little or no vegetation alternate with lush, sometimes dense, low vegetation. Macchie and garrigue are mainly populated in hillside areas. The diet consists mainly of insects. The species migrates long distances and spends the winter in sub-Saharan Africa between southern Mauritania in the west and Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in the east.

The population is evidently declining, but due to its large distribution area and the very large world population, the IUCN classifies the Mediterranean wheatear as “least concern”.

description

Mediterranean wheatear are quite small, slender and long-tailed wheatear. The body length is 13.5–15.5 cm, the weight 15–22 g. Like most members of the genus Oenanthe, the species shows a very pronounced sexual dimorphism in terms of coloration , and there are two color morphs . Males are colored very contrastingly.

In males of the nominate form Oenanthe h. Hispanica in splendid dress , the upper and middle back is light ocher to rust beige in spring, the rest of the back, the rump and the upper tail are white. With increasing wear of the plumage, the ocher-colored to rust-beige tone on the head and upper side is lost, so that the birds become lighter and lighter on the upper side during the breeding season, in individual cases they are then almost pure white in July. The wings are monochrome black above and below. The middle pair of control springs is black. The remaining control feathers are white with a black end band that widens outwards; on the outermost control springs the distal half of the outer vane is black. The breast is yellow-brown to sand-colored, the rest of the underside of the trunk is whitish. The forehead, the front skull and a narrow stripe above the eyes are white, the rest of the skull and the neck, like the upper back, are light ocher to rust beige. The rein region and the ear covers are black. In males of the so-called "aurita" morphs, the chin and throat are white with a beige shade , in males of the "stapazina" morphs are black.

Females have a reddish cinnamon-colored upper and middle back in their splendid dress; the rest of the back, the rump and the upper tail-coverts are white as in the male. The wings are monochrome dark brown above and below. The color of the control feathers is similar to that of the males, but the dark parts are often more extensive and more black-brown. The chest is yellow-orange, the rest of the underside of the torso lighter to white. The forehead and skull are cinnamon colored. The rein region and the ear covers are dark brown or, like the top of the head, cinnamon-colored. In females of the "aurita" morphs, the chin and throat are light beige, in females of the "stapazina" morphs brownish black with light feather tips.

The bill, legs and toes are black, the iris is brown.

Vocalizations

The rather varied singing consists of short, quickly performed series of noisy elements such as "tschri" , "tschrri" or "tschriü" , which alternate with a typical clatter and imitations of other bird species. Scratching warning calls such as “chärr” or “tschrä” are uttered at the nest , followed by a high “yiw” .

Systematics

Two poorly differentiated subspecies are recognized:

  • Oenanthe h. hispanica ( Linnaeus , 1758) - Western part of the distribution area from North Africa to the Maritime Alps in France and Italy. The nominate form is described above.
  • Oenanthe h. melanoleuca ( Güldenstädt , 1775) - Remaining (eastern) distribution area. Head and upper back in the fresh, magnificent dress is less yellowish and more gray-brown, in males with worn plumage from the end of April it is practically pure white, the gray feathers are then often visible on the top of the head and neck. The dark head markings are more extensive in males in both morphs than in the nominate form.

A separation from Oenanthe h. melanoleuca as a separate species is not generally accepted.

distribution and habitat

Distribution of the Mediterranean wheatear:
  • Breeding areas
  • migration
  • Wintering areas

    • The species colonizes parts of the southern Palearctic from northwest Africa and Portugal to the east across parts of southern Europe and Turkey to southern Iran . Small and disjoint deposits exist to the north and east of it in the Crimea , on the eastern edge of the Caspian Sea and in the Kopet-Dag . The size of the total distribution area is not exactly known.

    The Mediterranean wheatear is largely restricted to the Mediterranean zone . He inhabits dry, open landscapes in which exposed rocks, stone corridors or areas of clay or sand with little or no vegetation alternate with lush, sometimes dense, low vegetation. Mainly macchia and garrigue are settled in hillside areas, but also juniper heaths and very light forests as well as poor cultivated land, fallow land, orchards and vineyards, if there are structural elements such as piles of stones, walls or overhead lines. The altitude ranges from the flatlands to around 2300 m in Turkey, up to 2700 m in the Elburs Mountains and up to 3000 m in Kurdistan .

    food

    Mediterranean wheatear feed mainly on insects , arachnids and other invertebrates and often fruits are also eaten. In investigations of stomach contents in the former Soviet Union and in southwestern Iran, ants dominated the food spectrum; other important groups of prey were beetles and bedbugs . The species mostly hunts for ground-living invertebrates while waiting, insects are rarely captured in flight or read from the vegetation.

    Reproduction

    Oenanthe hispanica

    As far as is known, Mediterranean Wheatears lead a monogamous seasonal marriage. The male offers nest locations, but the final choice is always made by the female. The nest is built exclusively by the female. The nest is placed on the ground or just above it, only in exceptional cases higher, up to a maximum height of 1.5 m. It is predominantly built under a stone or bush, more rarely between stones, in crevices or wall holes. The entrance is usually lower than the nest. The nest consists of a scraped-out hollow that is lined with coarser plant material on the outside and fine plant material on the inside. The actual nest hollow is often lined with animal hair and very fine plant material, more rarely with feathers.

    The oviposition takes place quite uniformly in the entire distribution area, in North Africa mostly from mid-April to the beginning of June, exceptionally also at the end of June, in the rest of the area from mid-April to the end of June, beginning of July with a peak in the first or second half of May. The clutch consists of 2–6, mostly 4–6 eggs, which are rust-brown, more rarely lighter brown, spotted or spotted on an intensely blue-green to matt blue background. The spotting usually shows a wreath-like concentration on the blunt pole of the egg. Eggs from Spain and the Soviet Union measured very uniformly on average 19.8 × 15.1 mm. Usually only one brood per season is carried out. The breeding and nestling periods are 13-14 days each. The incubation of the eggs, like the nestlings' huddling, is carried out exclusively by the female for the first 3 to 4 days, both parents feed. Sexual maturity is likely to be reached in the first year of life.

    hikes

    The species migrates long-distance , it winters in Africa in the thorn savannas south of the Sahara between southern Mauritania in the west and Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in the east.

    The migration from the breeding sites rarely occurs from the beginning, usually from mid-August to early October, with a peak probably from early to mid-September. Individual stragglers are observed in southern Europe until mid-October, in North Africa as late as late October or early November. In winter quarters, Mediterranean wheatears rarely arrive at the end of August, mostly from mid-September to mid-October. The withdrawal from the winter quarters takes place from February, but mostly in March and in the first half of April with the last stragglers in early May. Exceptionally, the first birds are observed at the breeding sites at the beginning of March, the majority of the breeding birds arrive in April, the last until mid-May.

    In Central Europe, the species is a rare exception, 40 records were available by 1988. Of these, 78% took place in the spring from March to June and were therefore probably due to train prolongation , i.e. to a too far homeward journey north.

    Existence and endangerment

    There is no reliable information on the world population. BirdLife International gives 1.4-3.3 million breeding pairs as a rough estimate for the European population around the year 2000 . In Europe, the population declined sharply between 1970 and 1990, and has fallen moderately since 1996. Due to the large distribution area and the very large world population, the Mediterranean wheatear is still classified by the IUCN as harmless ("least concern").

    swell

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Lars Svensson, Peter J. Grant, Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterström: Der neue Kosmos Vogelführer . Kosmos, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07720-9 : p. 266
    2. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , p. 617
    3. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , p. 618
    4. ↑ Oenanthe h. melanoleuca at Avibase , Online, accessed May 14, 2011
    5. ↑ Family Muscicapidae on the IOC World Bird List, Version 2.8. ( Memento of the original from October 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Online, accessed May 14, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / worldbirdnames.org
    6. ↑ a b c The Mediterranean wheatear at BirdLife International (online, accessed May 13, 2011)
    7. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , pp. 624-625
    8. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , p. 620
    9. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , pp. 630-631
    10. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , p. 628
    11. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , pp. 627-628
    12. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , p. 622.
    13. ↑ UN Glutz v. Blotzheim, KM Bauer: Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Vol. 11, part I, Passeriformes (2nd part): Turdidae. Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1988, ISBN 3-89104-020-2 , pp. 622-623.
    14. ↑ Detailed species account from Birds in Europe: population estimates, trends and conservation status (BirdLife International 2004) (English)

    literature

    Web links

    Other web links

    Commons : Mediterranean Wheatear ( Oenanthe hispanica )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files