Oenanthe deserti
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Desert Wheatear sighting in Ranthambore National Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 204th most-seen of the 251 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Desert Wheatear in Ranthambore National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to November, the lowest months. That is one of Ranthambore National Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 270 mm in August.
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.
2nd of 4
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Desert Wheatear sightings, Ranthambore National Park ranks 2nd at under 5%. The best odds are in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, about 50%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Desert Wheatear is recorded against all the birds logged in Ranthambore National Park (21 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.
