Oenanthe deserti
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The desert wheatear (Oenanthe deserti) is a wheatear, a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher (Muscicapidae). It is a migratory insectivorous species, 14.5 to 15 cm (5.7 to 5.9 in) in length. Both western and eastern forms of the desert wheatear are rare vagrants to western Europe. The western desert wheatear breeds in the Sahara and the northern Arabian Peninsula. The eastern race is found in the semi-deserts of Central Asia and in winter in Pakistan and northeast Africa.
The plumage of the upper parts of the male in summer is buff. The underparts are white with a buff tinge on the breast. The black on the face and throat extends to the shoulders, and there is distinct white superciliary stripe. The female is greyer above and buffer below and has no black on the throat, and in the winter plumage the black on the throat of the male is partially obscured by the white tips of the feathers. A distinguishing characteristic, in both sexes of all ages, is that the entire tail is black to the level of the upper tail-coverts.
The desert wheatear feeds largely on insects which it picks up off the ground. It breeds in the spring when a clutch of usually four pale blue, slightly speckled eggs is laid in a well-concealed nest made of grasses, mosses and stems. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 3 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 4 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 5 | Doha | 🇶🇦 Qatar | |
| 6 | Tel Aviv | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 7 | Ahmedabad | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Jerusalem | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 9 | Taipei | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 10 | Pune | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Desert Wheatear sighting in Vasai-Virar on a given day, based on 125 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 87th most-seen of the 217 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and November
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Desert Wheatear in Vasai-Virar on a given day, against under 5% in April to September, the lowest months. Those are among Vasai-Virar's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain a month against 840 mm in July.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Desert Wheatear sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 11 cities where we can rate Desert Wheatear sightings, Vasai-Virar has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Kuwait City (Kuwait, about 10%) and Manama (Bahrain, about 10%).
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Desert Wheatear that you can see in Vasai-Virar (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are Siberian Stonechat (about 50%), Oriental Magpie-Robin (about 50%) and Pied Bushchat (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Desert Wheatear is recorded against all the birds logged in Vasai-Virar (125 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
