Wheatears spend winter in a broad belt across central Africa – from Senegal to Kenya – where they set up feeding territories in bare, stony areas.
Why is it called a wheatear?
The name wheatear is derived from the Old English for ‘white’ (wheat) and ‘arse’ (ear), referring to their white rump of course!
What does a northern wheatear eat?
In Eurasia feeds mostly on insects, especially beetles, also ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, true bugs, flies, and many others. Also eats spiders, centipedes, snails. Often feeds on berries, perhaps mainly in summer and fall.
What kind of bird is a shrike?
Shrikes (/ʃraɪk/) are carnivorous passerine birds of the family Laniidae. The family is composed of 34 species in four genera. The family name, and that of the largest genus, Lanius, is derived from the Latin word for “butcher”, and some shrikes are also known as butcherbirds because of their feeding habits.
How many types of wheatear are there?
The genus contains 32 species: Northern wheatear, Oenanthe oenanthe. Atlas wheatear, Oenanthe seebohmi.
What is the meaning of wheatear?
: any of various small thrushes (genus Oenanthe) especially : a white-rumped one (O. oenanthe) of northern North America and the Old World.
What does a stone chat look like?
Stonechats are robin sized birds. Males have striking black heads with white around the side of their neck, orange-red breasts and a mottled brown back. Females lack the male’s black head, but have brown backs and an orange tinge to their chests.
What is a warbler species?
Warbler, any of various species of small songbirds belonging predominantly to the Sylviidae (sometimes considered a subfamily, Sylviinae, of the family Muscicapidae), Parulidae, and Peucedramidae families of the order Passeriformes. Warblers are small, active insect eaters found in gardens, woodlands, and marshes.
Do chaffinches migrate?
They are partial migrants; birds breeding in warmer regions are sedentary, while those breeding in the colder northern areas of their range winter further south. The eggs and nestlings of the chaffinch are taken by a variety of mammalian and avian predators.
How big is a great GREY Shrike?
Description. An adult great grey shrike is a medium-sized passerine about as large as a big thrush, measuring from 22 to 26 cm (8.7 to 10.2 in) long.
What does a meadow pipit look like?
A small, streaky, yellow-brown bird, the meadow pipit has pale, flesh-coloured legs, whereas the similar rock pipit has blackish legs. The tree pipit is very similar, but has a slightly sturdier bill.
What bird has a white rump?
When a Northern Flicker takes flight, a bold patch of white feathers flashes on its rump, in contrast to its brown body. This white rump likely evolved as an anti-predator adaptation. A hawk flying in pursuit of a flicker may focus on the white spot rather than the darker image of the whole bird.
Are lapwings plovers?
Despite the species being also known as the masked plover and often called the spur-winged plover or just plover in its native range, lapwings are classified to their own subfamily, Vanellinae, and not to the closely related plover subfamily, Charadriinae.
Is shrike a raptor?
With a hooked beak and predatory habits, the Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) has acquired some ferocious nicknames: The Butcher Bird or, in Spanish, El Verdugo (The Executioner).
Is a butcher bird a shrike?
Butcherbirds are the ecological counterparts of the shrikes, mainly found in Eurasia and Africa, which are only distantly related, but share the “larder” habit; shrikes are also sometimes called “butcherbirds”. Butcherbirds live in a variety of habitats from tropical rainforest to arid shrubland.
Is a shrike a bird?
Shrike, (family Laniidae), any of approximately 30 species of medium-sized predatory birds (order Passeriformes); in particular, any of the more than 25 species of the genus Lanius, constituting the subfamily of true shrikes, Laniinae. With their bills they can kill large insects, lizards, mice, and small birds.
Are wheatears migrants?
It is a summer visitor and passage migrant. Birds breed mainly in western and northern Britain and western Ireland, although smaller numbers do breed in southern and eastern England.
Are chaffinches friendly?
Chaffinches are very polite and friendly. They rarely show any sign of aggression, however, they can become aggressive to protect their nest.
Do chaffinches pair for life?
If you’re lucky enough to have chaffinches in your garden, now that you know the answer to do chaffinches mate for life, you will know that if it is summer, it is most probably a monogamous breeding pair.
Do female chaffinches sing?
Males not only sing, but also have a lot of different kinds of calls, more than females. In winter, the sexual contrast disappears; the call repertoire of non-breeding male chaffinches shrinks from eight call types, plus song, down to two (Fig. 5.1).
What is the most common warbler?
Yellow Warbler
Yellows, our most widespread warbler, sing while nesting across much of the United States and Canada, especially in shrubland and woodland thickets.