Michele Mendi

A small passerine that feeds chiefly on insects, also spiders, molluscs and other small invertebrates, supplemented by berries. Breeds in highly diversified but always open habitat. The population has decreased in most parts of Europe. Nominate oenanthe breeds in all of Europe, east to Siberia, Alaska, and nw Canada. Subspecies libanotica breeds in S Spain and Balearic Is. to Iran, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Subspecies leucorhoa breeds on Iceland, Greenland and NE Canada. Mainly a trans-Saharan migrant, birds breeding in the Neartic also winter in Africa.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendUnknown
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		10800000-29300000,17500000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Northern Wheatear

Predominant direction of movement on the european continent is NE – SW. UK and Ireland birds move from NNW to SSE and birds belonging to ssp. leucorhoa from Iceland move NW - SE. The majority of European birds pass Iberia on their way to Africa. A minority of birds from East- and Central Europe and from Fennoscandia move via Italy to Africa. There is one exceptional recovery of a bird ringed as adult female on 9 July 2007 on Baffin Island (North-Canada) that was found dead near Reykjavik (Iceland) on 14 May 2014. There are no sub-Saharan encounters.

Recoveries by Condition for Northern Wheatear

Annual numbers encountered were most time below 100 until the year 2001. Then the numbers increased to a maximum of 1335 in 2009. After 2009 the annual numbers fluctuated around 500. In spring most encounters are between 21 May and 20 June, in fall the peak lies between 19 August and 8 September.
Before 1960 about 77% of the recoveries were dead birds, including 20% birds that were shot. Between 1960 – 1990 the percentage of dead birds decreased to 36% and the percentage alive recoveries increased from 13% to 58%. After 1991 the percentage alive recoveries was 97%.

Annual Movements for Northern Wheatear

In December - February only a few birds are left in Europe. In March the first migrants appear in North-Africa and South-Europe and especially in UK also arrive in their breeding areas. In April many birds arrive in their breeding areas in West- and Central Europe, UK and South-Fennoscandia. In April there are also still migrating birds in North-Africa and South-Europe. In May most birds have arrived in their breeding areas, also in Iceland and North-Fennoscandia. In August the first birds are migrating back through South-West Europe and some already arrived in North-Africa. In September most birds have left their breeding areas and are on migration in South-West Europe and North-Africa. In October the last birds are leaving Europe.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Northern Wheatear

April and September – October encounters in Morocco, Algeria and Tunesia connect to all breeding areas except Iceland. April encounters in Italy and Central Europe connect to Fennoscandia. September encounters in Italy connect to Finland and North-Norway. March encounters in West-Europe connect to UK. April – May encounters in West-Europe connect to UK and Fennoscandia. September – October encounters in Iberia and SW France connect to all breeding areas. Iceland birds (leucorhoa) have connections with UK in April and to UK or straight to West coast of France in September, without any connections further north along North Sea coast. Encounters in November – December in Iberia connect to West- and Central Europe.

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries