Northern Wheatear
Oenanthe oenanthe
Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapidae) · Passeriformes (Passeriformes)
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Often mixed up with
In quizzes, players most often confuse Northern Wheatear with these birds— either this species was picked by mistake, or the other way around.
| Species | Mix-ups |
|---|---|
| Whinchat Saxicola rubetra | 50 |
| European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola | 45 |
| Isabelline Wheatear Oenanthe isabellina | 43 |
| Atlas Wheatear Oenanthe seebohmi | 24 |
| Desert Wheatear Oenanthe deserti | 14 |
Family
The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) and northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe), found also in North America. These are mainly small arboreal insectivores, many of which, as the name implies, take their prey on the wing. The large family includes 357 species and is divided into 57 genera.
Order
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin passer 'sparrow' and formis '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching. With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest order of birds and one of the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of …