Northern Wheatear

Oenanthe oenanthe

The northern wheatear or wheatear is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is the most widespread member of the wheatear genus Oenanthe in Europe and North and Central Asia. The northern wheatear is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in open stony country in Europe and east across the Palearctic with footholds in northeastern Canada and Greenland as well as in northwestern Canada and Alaska. It nests in rock crevices and rabbit burrows. All birds spend most of their winter in Africa. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 5,663 times across 44 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 9°C (typically 9 to 20°C, from 8 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 54°N in October to 71°N in June, about 1,900 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.