Editing Northern wheatear

{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Steinschmaetzer Northern wheatear male.jpg
| image_caption = Male in breeding-plumage
| image2 = Northern wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe.jpg
| image2_caption = Female<br>
[[File: Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) (W1CDR0001421 BD16).ogg|thumb|Song of male, Devon, England]]
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Oenanthe oenanthe'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T103773898A132192232 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T103773898A132192232.en |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>
| taxon = Oenanthe oenanthe
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| synonyms = ''Motacilla Oenanthe'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small>
| range_map = Oenanthe oenanthe map.svg
}}
[[File:Stenskvätta - Oenanthe oenanthe.jpg|thumb|Northern wheatear juvenile]]

The '''northern wheatear''' or '''wheatear''' ('''''Oenanthe oenanthe''''') is a small [[passerine]] [[bird]] that was formerly classed as a member of the [[Thrush (bird)|thrush]] family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an [[Old World flycatcher]], Muscicapidae. It is the most widespread member of the [[wheatear]] genus ''Oenanthe'' in Europe and [[North Asia|North]] and [[Central Asia]].

The northern wheatear is a [[bird migration|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]].

==Taxonomy and systematics==
The northern wheatear was first [[Species description|formally described]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758 in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|10th edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' as ''Motacilla oenanthe''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturæ per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, Volume 1| volume=1 | edition=10th | page=186 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=la | url= https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727093 | quote=''M. dorso cano, fronte alba, oculorum fascia nigra'' }}</ref> The species is now placed in the genus ''[[Oenanthe (bird)|Oenanthe]]'' that was introduced by the French ornithologist [[Louis Pierre Vieillot]] in 1816.<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Paynter | editor2-first=Raymond A. Jr | year=1960 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=10 | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology  | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts  | page=121 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14486310 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | editor-last=Saunders  | editor-first=Howard | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | year=1883 | orig-year=1816 | title=Vieillot's Analyse d'une nouvelle ornithologie élémentaire | language=fr | place=London | page=43 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12830285 }}</ref> The generic name, ''Oenanthe'', is also the name of a [[plant]] genus, the [[Oenanthe (plant)|water dropwort]]s, and is derived from the Greek ''ainos'' "wine" and ''anthos'' "flower", from the wine-like scent of the flowers.<ref name =Botanical >{{cite web|title= Dropwort, Hemlock Water |work= A Modern herbal |url= http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/d/drophe21.html |publisher= Botanical.com | access-date=2008-02-05}}</ref> In the case of the wheatear, it refers to the birds' return to Greece in the spring at the time that the [[Vitis|grapevines]] blossom.<ref name = enature >{{cite web|title= Northern Wheatear|url= http://www.enature.com/flashcard/show_flash_card.asp?recordNumber=bd0637 |publisher= eNature |access-date=2008-02-05}}</ref>

Its [[English language|English]] name has nothing to do with [[wheat]] or with [[ear]], but is an altered (perhaps [[Thomas Bowdler|bowdlerised]]) form of '''white-arse''', which refers to its prominent white rump.<ref name=OED>{{Cite OED |Wheatear }}</ref>

The four generally accepted [[subspecies]] of the Northern Wheatear with their breeding range are as follows:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2016 | title=Chats, Old World flycatchers | work=World Bird List Version 6.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/chats/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union| access-date=20 May 2016 }}</ref>
* ''O. o. leucorhoa'' <small>([[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin, JF]], 1789)</small> – northeast Canada, Greenland and Iceland (the ''''Greenland wheatear'''')
* ''O. o. oenanthe'' <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758)</small> – north and central Europe through north Asia to east Siberia and northwest North America
* ''O. o. libanotica'' <small>([[Wilhelm Hemprich|Hemprich]] & [[Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg|Ehrenberg]], 1833)</small> – southern Europe through the Middle East and southwest Asia to Mongolia and northwest China
* ''O. o. seebohmi'' <small>([[Charles Dixon (ornithologist)|Dixon]], 1882)</small> – northwest Africa

''O.o. seebohmi'' is regarded as a distinct species by some authorities such as the [[International Ornithological Committee]], [[Seebohm's wheatear|Seebohm’s]] or the Atlas wheatear.<ref name = IOC>{{ cite web | url = https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/updates/species-updates/ | title = Species Updates | accessdate = 29 April 2021 | publisher = International Ornithological Committee}}</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Oenanthe oenanthe MWNH 1870.JPG|thumb|Eggs, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden]]]]
The northern wheatear is larger than the [[European robin]] at {{cvt|14.5|-|16|cm}} in length. The northern wheatear also has a wingspan of 26–32&nbsp;cm and weighs 17–30 g.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Oiseaux.net|title=Traquet motteux - Oenanthe oenanthe - Northern Wheatear|url=https://www.oiseaux.net/birds/northern.wheatear.html|access-date=2020-09-29|website=www.oiseaux.net|language=en}}</ref>

Both sexes have a white rump and tail, with a black inverted T-pattern at the end of the tail.

The [[plumage]] of the summer male has grey upperparts, buff throat and black wings and face mask. In autumn it resembles the female apart from the black wings. The female is pale brown above and buff below with darker brown wings. The male has a whistling, crackly [[bird vocalization|song]]. Its call is a typical chat ''chack'' noise, and the flight call is the same.

==Behaviour and ecology==

===Migration===
The northern wheatear makes one of the longest journeys of any small bird, crossing ocean, ice, and desert.<ref name=JE-1995>{{cite book |title=Atlas of Bird Migration |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-43827-0 |editor-first=Jonathan |editor-last=Elphick |editor-link=Jonathan Elphick |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/randomhouseatlas00jona }}</ref>. It migrates from [[Sub-Saharan Africa]] in the spring over a vast area of the Northern Hemisphere that includes northern and central Asia, Europe, Greenland, Alaska, and parts of Canada.<ref name=JE-1995/> In autumn all return to Africa, where their ancestors had wintered.<ref name=JE-1995/> Arguably, some of the birds that breed in north Asia could take a shorter route and winter in south Asia; however, their inherited inclination to migrate takes them back to Africa,<ref name=JE-1995/> completing one of the longest migrations for its body size in the animal kingdom<ref>{{Cite web|title=Featherweight songbird is a long-distance champ|url=https://phys.org/news/2012-02-featherweight-songbird-long-distance-champ.html|access-date=2020-06-05|website=phys.org|language=en}}</ref>.

Birds of the large, bright Greenland race, ''leucorhoa'', make one of the longest transoceanic crossings of any passerine. In spring most migrate along a route (commonly used by [[wader]]s and [[waterfowl]]) from Africa via [[continental Europe]], the [[British Isles]], and [[Iceland]] to [[Greenland]]. However, autumn sightings from ships suggest that some birds cross the North Atlantic directly from Canada and Greenland to southwest Europe, a distance of up to {{convert|2500|km}}.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Snow | first=David | author-link=David Snow (ornithologist) | year=1953 | title=The migration of the Greenland Wheatear | journal=Ibis | volume=95 | issue=2 | pages=376–378 | doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1953.tb00698.x }}</ref> Birds breeding in [[eastern Canada]] are thought to fly from [[Baffin Island]] and [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] via Greenland, Ireland, and Portugal to the [[Azores]], crossing {{convert|3500|km}} of the [[North Atlantic]]) before flying onwards to Africa.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Bairlein | first1=F. | last2=Norris | first2=D.R. | last3=Nagel | first3=R. | last4=Bulte | first4=M. | last5=Voigt | first5=C.C. | last6=Fox | first6=J.W. | last7=Hussell | first7=D.J.T. | last8=Schmaljohann | first8=H. | year=2012  |title=Cross-hemisphere migration of a 25 g songbird |journal=Biology Letters  | doi=10.1098/rsbl.2011.1223 | doi-access=free | pmc=3391447 | pmid=22337504 | volume=8 | issue=4 | pages=505–7}}</ref>  Other populations from western Canada and [[Alaska]] migrate by flying over much of Eurasia to Africa.<ref name =JE-1995/>

Miniature tracking devices have recently shown that the northern wheatear has one of the longest migratory flights known - 30,000&nbsp;km (18,640 miles), from sub-Saharan Africa to their Arctic breeding grounds.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">"Tiny songbird northern wheatear traverses the world" by
Victoria Gill. ''BBC Nature'' 15 February 2012.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17027565]</ref>
<blockquote>"The Alaskan birds travelled almost 15,000km (9,000 miles) each way - crossing Siberia and the Arabian Desert, and travelling, on average, 290km per day. "This is the longest recorded migration for a songbird as far as we know," said Dr Schmaljohann.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/></blockquote>

===Breeding===
Northern wheatears first breed when they are one year old.{{sfn|Cramp|1988|p=788}} The nest is built entirely by the female while the male perches nearby, sings and sometimes performs song-flights.{{sfn|Cramp|1988|p=784}} The nest is placed in a cavity such as a rabbit burrow, a crevice among rocks or in a man-made object such as a wall or pipe. The nest typically has a foundation of untidy plant material. The nest cup is constructed of finer grasses, leaves, moss and lichen. The female lays eggs at daily intervals. The clutch is 4–7 smooth but not glossy eggs that are around {{cvt|21.0|x|15.8|mm}} in size with an average weight of {{cvt|2.83|g}}. The eggs are very pale blue in colour and sometimes have a few red-brown marks at the larger end. They are incubated almost entirely by the female beginning after the penultimate or final egg has been laid. The eggs hatch after approximately 13 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and are brooded by the female for the first five or six days. They fledge after 15 days and become independent of their parents when they are between 28 and 32 days old. Normally only a single brood is raised each year but when a clutch of eggs is lost, the female will lay a second clutch.{{sfn|Cramp|1988|pp=787-788}}

==Status and conservation==
The northern wheatear has an extensive range, estimated at 2.3&nbsp;million&nbsp;square kilometres (0.87&nbsp;million square miles), and a large population estimated at 2.9 million individuals in the Old World and the Americas combined. The species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and is therefore evaluated as [[least concern]].<ref name="iucn status 19 November 2021" />

==Relationship with humans==
In the 18th and 19th centuries wheatears were considered a delicacy in England, called "the English [[Ortolan bunting|ortolan]]" and Sussex shepherds supplemented their income by selling the birds they trapped.<ref>{{ cite book | last1=Cocker | first1=Mark | last2=Mabey | first2=Richard | year=2005 | title=Birds Britannica | place=London | publisher=Chatto and Windus | page=348 | isbn=978-0-7011-6907-7 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last=Defoe | first=Daniel | author-link=Daniel Defoe | year=1724 | title=A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain | volume=1 | location=London | publisher=G. Strahan | at=Letter 2, p. 57 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZG9bAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA57 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | last=Hudson | first=William Henry | author-link=William Henry Hudson | year=1900 | edition=2nd | title=Nature in Downland  | location=London | publisher=Longmans, Green | pages=126–141 | url=https://archive.org/details/natureindownland00huds/page/126 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{ cite book | editor1-last=Cramp | editor1-first=Stanley | editor1-link=Stanley Cramp | year=1988 | chapter=Oenanthe oenanthe'' Wheatear'' | title=Handbook of the birds of Europe the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Volume V: Tyrant Flycatchers to Thrushes | place=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | pages=770–792 | isbn=978-0-19-857508-5 }}

==External links==
{{Commons|Oenanthe oenanthe|northern wheatear}}
*[http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/northern-wheatear-oenanthe-oenanthe Northern Wheatear videos, photos & sounds] on the Internet Bird Collection
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20161108175043/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/336_WheatearOoenanthe.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 4.3 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]
* [http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Oenanthe-oenanthe Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the Northern Wheatear]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q26420}}

[[Category:Wheatears|northern wheatear]]
[[Category:Holarctic birds]]
[[Category:Wintering birds of Africa]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758|northern wheatear]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]