Abyssinian Wheatear (Oenanthe lugubris) - BirdLife species factsheet

Abyssinian Wheatear Oenanthe lugubris

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Previously treated with O. lugentoides and O. lugens as O. lugens (del Hoyo and Collar 2016). Prior to 1994 O. lugubris was also recognised as separate to O. lugens (Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) but these taxa were lumped following Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993). Differs from both those species genetically (Schweizer and Burri 2019), and in darker and fuller grey-brown discoloration of the (basally) white crown (2), pale rufous (vs white) rump and part of tail in both sexes (2), near to complete lack of white on the underwing in both sexes (3), streaky breast in females (ns [2]). Three subspecies recognised.

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2022. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Not Recognised
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	1,910,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	2.12 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	3-100	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species has been described as common and abundant (Kirwan and Collar 2021).

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident
Eritrea	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native	yes
Kenya	extant	native	yes
Somalia	extant	native	yes
Tanzania	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	resident
Altitude	800 - 3000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits	(max) 4000 m

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Abyssinian Wheatear Oenanthe lugubris. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/abyssinian-wheatear-oenanthe-lugubris on 26/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/11/2024.