Oenanthe pleschanka
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The pied wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) is a wheatear, a small insectivorous 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 (family Muscicapidae). This migratory central Asiatic wheatear occurs from the extreme southeast of Europe to China, and has been found wintering in India and northeastern Africa. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.
The male is a boldly marked white-and-black bird. The white crown tinged with brown contrasts with the black face and throat and white rump. The female is browner, and the head is washed with sandy buff. Females are darker than the females of the northern wheatear, look smaller and show less white on the rump. The tail feathers are white with characteristic black markings, which form an inverted black "T" pattern that resembles the tail of the western black-eared wheatear. This 14 centimetres (5.5 in) bird nests in open, stony, sparsely vegetated regions, laying four to six eggs in a hole, under a stone or in a rock crevice. The pied wheatear primarily eats insects but will also take seeds.
The genus name Oenanthe is derived... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 3 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 6 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Mkomazi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 8 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 10 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 11 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 12 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 13 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 14 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 15 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 16 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pied Wheatear sighting in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 82 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 262nd most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pied Wheatear in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in March–October and December, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pied Wheatear sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
12th of 16
Of the 16 parks where we can rate Pied Wheatear sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 12th at under 5%. The best odds are in Awash National Park (Ethiopia, about 40%), Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, about 40%) and Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 20%).
Same genus: Oenanthe
The closest relatives of the Pied Wheatear that you can see in Masai Mara National Reserve (genus Oenanthe, Wheatears and Allies) are Northern Wheatear (about 10%) and Isabelline Wheatear (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pied Wheatear is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (82 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
