OSME - White-crowned Black Wheatear in Turkey

The first White-crowned Black Wheatear
Oenanthe leucopyga in Turkey

ALBERTO SORACE

ON the afternoon of 12 August 1993 I observed a juvenile White-crowned Black Wheatear Oenanthe leucopyga in a barren stony area, near Pinarbasi, 100 km east of Kayseri (Southern Coastlands), Turkey. The bird was identified on the basis of the following features.

Behaviour and shape were typical of a wheatear Oenanthe sp. and the general colouration was black except for a large white rump, undertail coverts and white outer tail feathers, without a black terminal band. It appeared larger than other wheatears that I had previously noticed in Turkey. The observation lasted a few minutes, always at close range. There were no other wheatear species available for comparison.

The species breeds in North Africa and parts of the Arabian peninsula, being generally scarcer in the east, and has been recorded as a vagrant in Cyprus (in March 1970, May 1985 and March 1993; Flint and Stewart 1993, Cyprus Ornithological Society (1957) 40th Report) and Malta (in April; Cramp 1988), but not previously in Turkey (Kasparek 1992). The record has been accepted by the Italian Rarities Committee.

REFERENCES
CRAMP, S. (ed.) (1988) The birds of the Western Palearctic Vol. 5. Oxford University Press.
FLINT, P.R. AND STEWART, P.F. (1992) The birds of Cyprus. An annotated check-list. British Ornithologists Union Check-list No. 6 (2nd edition). B.O.U., Tring.
KASPAREK, M. (1992) Die Vögel der Türkei: eine Übersicht. Kasparek Verlag, Heidelberg.

Alberto Sorace, Via Roberto Crippa 60, D/8, S. Giorgio di Acilia, 00125 Rome, Italy.

White-crowned Black Wheatear Paul Doherty

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