Pied Wheatear

Oenanthe pleschanka vittata (Hemprich et Ehrenberg, 1833)

2010-04-16 South-Kazakhstan area. Karatau.	© Andrey Kovalenko

Description

Position of the vittata form is not completely clear. Since E.Hartert (1910) it considered as color morph of the Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe pleschanka) of which both males and females differ by the white throat. It breeds from Trans-Caucasia (Baku area) up to lower current of Ile river, in the south to eastern Iran (Khashtadan gorge) and northern India (Gilgit). Hardly possible to explain the origin of this morph by the hybridization between O. pleschanka and O. hispanica; as this case the white-throated males' attracting the white-throated females (such pairs were observed by N.A. Zarudnyy) in the areas not living O. pleschanka or O. hispanica is really fantastic.

Distribution

In Kazakhstan vittata occurs most on Mangyshlak. Also it observed near Aksu-Dzhabagly, in Karatau, at Chokpak Pass, near Karaoy, in vicinity of Kapchagay, at Sorbulak, about Iliysk settlement, in Syugaty valley (Zailiyskiy Alatau).

References

В.К.Рябицев. "Птицы Урала, Приуралья и Западной Сибири". Екатеринбург, Изд-во Уральского университета, 2000. Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005. А.Ф.Ковшарь "Певчие птицы". Алма-Ата, "Кайнар", 1983.