The mourning wheatear (''Oenanthe lugens'') is a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

, one of 14 species of wheatear found in northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. It is a small passerine in a group formerly classed as members of the thrush family Turdidae, but now more generally considered to be part of the Old World flycatcher family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

Taxonomy

The mourning wheatear was first described by

Martin Lichtenstein Martin H nrich Carl Lichtenstein (10 January 1780 – 2 September 1857) was a German physician, List of explorers, explorer, botanist and zoologist. He explored parts of southern Africa and collected natural history specimens extensively and ...

in 1823. Panov (Wheatears of Palearctic, 2005) discusses the latest taxonomy for the mourning wheatear superspecies. The mourning wheatear is split from Abyssinian wheatear (''Oenanthe lugubris''), which is the species found south of the Sahara. The Maghreb wheatear (''O. halophila'') and basalt wheatear (''O. warriae'') were formerly considered subspecies of the mourning wheatear, but were split as distinct species by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

in 2021. The Egyptian populations of ''O. lugens'' are discussed in Baha El Din and Baha El Din (2000). These birds differ from ''halophila'' in exhibiting less sexual dimorphism, and displaying a prominent white wingbar, and thus are closer to the nominate race.

Subspecies

Excluding the split species, the mourning wheatear has two subspecies: * ''O. l. lugens'' ( Lichtenstein, 1823) - The nominate form. Occurs from east

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and north-east

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

to north-west

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. * ''O. l. persica'' ( Seebohm, 1881) -

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

Description

The mourning wheatear measures in length and weighs between . It is characterized by its striking black-and-white plumage. Both males and females share a similar appearance, featuring a white crown, nape, chest, and belly that contrast with the black head and neck, which extend to the black back. The tail is predominantly white, marked by a black stripe at the tip and a central black intrusion forming an inverted "T" pattern, a characteristic feature of wheatears. While the wings appear entirely black when at rest, they reveal white bases on the flight feathers during flight, creating a distinct white "flag" along the wing. It shows only a subtle

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

, with the females sporting more subtle plumage.

Ecology

Distribution

It is native to semi-desert areas of the

, from eastern Egypt to Iran.

Habitat

The Mourning Wheatear is primarily found in desert habitats, favoring environments with caves for shelter, rocky slopes, valleys, screes, cliffs, ravines, dry barren wadis, ridges, and flat plains. It occasionally visits villages, lowlands, wastelands, and cultivated fields. The species is typically observed at altitudes ranging from .

Status

The species has a wide distribution range, stable population trends, and is presumed to have a large population, although precise estimates have not been conducted. As a result, it is classified as "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

" by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN).