Appearance:

Epitome of wheatears. Male with grey back, white supercilium, black mask and dark wings. Females have less contrast, are more brownish than grey, the supercilium is fainter and the black mask is missing. Rump white and tail white with black "T" in all plumages. The black in the middle tail-feathers is always at least as long as the width of the black terminal tail-band. Pale individuals can be mistaken for Isabelline Wheatear, but note that the supercilium is buff between eye and base of bill.

Sound:

Contact and alarm call a high pitched, sharp "weet", followed by a hard "check", like hitting two rocks together. The "weet" sound is much sharper than the similar sound in Whinchat and Stonechat. Wheater usually repeats the "weet" sound more frequently than the "check" sound. The "check" of Stonechat is less pure and more gritty. The Wheatear song consists of short phrases with marked pauses. Each phrase is often introduced by the "weet" sound, then followed by hastened, creaking, rattling and warbling sounds of 1-2 seconds duration. The "check" sound is also often included in the song.

Song:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Appearance:

Light grey upperparts, black wings and tail with white patches, white underparts and throat. Broad, black eyestripe not reaching above highest point of bill. Bill long and medium heavy (not as heavy as in Lesser GS). White patch at base of primaries varies according to subspecies. Black part of tail most narrow at base. Juveniles less pure in colour, with faintly barred underparts and buff fringes to greater coverts.

Sound:

Alarm call very harsh, nasal and noisy. Dry and not as deep or resonant as crows. Song varied. During breeding season a varied subdued song is heard from both sexes. Territorial call before breeding starts is simple, loud and resonant. Consisting of pleasant sounding single or double syllables, with well defined pauses and peculiar harmonics.

Territorial call/song:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Jarek Matusiak,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license