Black-eared Wheatear

Oenanthe hispanica

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
Presence in the Strait: Seasonal
Abundance: common
Protection in Spain: Special protection (List)
In Spanish: Collalba rubia

Photograph: Karsten Ste, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 15 cm
Weight: 18 g

Presence in the Strait

Common summer visitor to open areas.

Identification

Males show a distinct contrast between their black wings and mask and the ochre tones of their mantle and crown; yellow-ochre breast; they can be found with black or white throats. Females have brown wings and mask, the latter is less prominent in late summer; some females can be confused with a Wheatear but they lack the supercilium and tail pattern is different.

Movements

Peaks in 1st hf. April and 2nd hf. August.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

29 %

Peak in April. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 21 May 1927
Latest record: 8 April 2026

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Spanish Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: NT · Near threatened · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Same genus in the Strait

Desert Wheatear14.5–15.5 cm · Vagrant · overlapping size
Northern Wheatear15–16 cm · Migrant
Black Wheatear18–18 cm · Resident

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Muscicapidae
GBIF taxon key: 5231235

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Karsten Ste, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Black-eared Wheatear

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Gallery