Scientific name: Oenanthe oenanthe (Linnaeus, 1758)
Bird group: Thrushes and allies
Field characters. 15 cm. Male easily distinguished by grey crown, neck and mantle, black mask, black wings, buff breast and white underparts. Tail has characteristic wheatear-pattern: white with inverted 'T', formed by black distal band and black central tail feathers. Rump white. Female more difficult to distinguish from Isabelline Wheatear and female Black-eared Wheatear. Like these species, upperparts mainly sandy coloured with darker wings. See under respective species for characters. Juveniles have a somewhat thrush-like pattern, with individual feathers coloured with yellow streaks. First winter birds resemble female, but have very broad buff feather edges and are more scaly-looking.
Voice. Call 'chak', 'tsek' and 'wiet tsek'. Song warbling, with scratchy notes. Often imitates other birds.
Distribution. Common and widespread, but decreasing locally.
Habitat. A variety of open short-turf areas, with scattered bushes, small trees, rocks and bare patches of sand.
Food. Mainly invertebrates, also some berries. Catches insects in typical wheatear fashion, by spotting prey from perch or ground and catching it by flying down or running towards it.