Photo Study Of A Northern Wheatear At Fox Point SP (New Castle County) DE, December 24th, 2010

    What a very nice Christmas present Colin Campbell gave all of us by finding this neat little bird while biking around Fox Point State Park and then reporting it. Apparently,
    the last time a Northern Wheatear graced the State of Delaware was in 1957. The birders and the picture takers were all over the place this morning and everyone got great
    looks and lots of photos. As a matter of fact, if the Wheatear hangs out for a few more days, it may become the most photographed extralimital in the area since last year's
    Ivory Gull at Cape May's Breezy-Lee Marina. The subtle color nuances of this species are incredible...they change before your eyes depending on position of the bird and light.     Also, I could not tell if the Wheatear is a first year or an adult female because, according to Sibley, they look so much alike. So I checked with a couple of more experienced
    birders (e.g., Arlene Koch and Adrian Binns) and the consensus is that Colin's find is most likely a first Winter male (note the darkening lores and auriculars as well as the 
    black starting to show in the primaries.)  In any event, I took so many pictures this morning, the Wheatear and I were both on the fence for quite a while, trying to figure out
    which photos to include in this study:

    The Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) is a small passerine bird 5 3/4 inches long with a 12 inch wingspread. It was formerly classed as a
    member of the thrush family Turdidae, but it is now more generally considered to be an Old World Flycatcher, in the family Muscicapidae. It is
    the most widespread member of the Wheatear genus Oenanthe in Europe and Asia. The Northern Wheatear is a migratory insectivorous species
    breeding in open stony country in a wide geographic range that extends from northern Europe and Asia south to the Middle East and North
    Africa, and includes Iceland, Greenland, northeastern Canada, Alaska, and the Yukon. It nests in rock crevices and rabbit burrows. All Wheatears
    winter in Africa...so somehow, just for us, our beautiful little visitors made a very, very fortunate wrong turn. Its white rump gives the Wheatear
    its name from the corruption of an older and perhaps inappropriate English term. (Cornell BNA; Wikipedia; Sibley Guide To Birds)

 
Checking For Any Predators Above

Wheatear Biding Its Time On The Brim Of The Berm

The Wheatear's Almost White Rump

Wheatear Enjoying The Sun

Wheatear Looking For Food

 Wheatear Takes Off

    To see a larger image of any of the photos below, please click on either the thumbnail or the caption...thanks~

 © Howard B. Eskin 2010      Please click here to email your comments to <hbeskin@voicenet.com>        Please click here to go back to Bird Webpage Index 

                    Please click here to see the October 2011 Photo Study of the Lebanon, PA Northern Wheatear