Description:

Medium-sized distinct wheatear, with regular flicks to wings and wags tail. Breeding male has blue-grey upperparts, black mask, and pale orange breast. Breeding female greyish to olive-brown above; lacks rufous patch on ear-coverts and no dark grey/black on throat. Shows more white at sides of tail compared with Isabelline.

Distribution:

Common passage migrant and summer visitor in south-western areas of Ghizer, Hunza and Nagar districts. Found in open ground mixing bare rocky areas and short herb layer, rocky alpine meadows and also highland cultivation, usually at 2500-4000m.

Behavior:

Forages on open ground by bounding pursuit to grab prey , also "scoops" slow low-flying insects in short run, sometimes jumping to catch them if slightly higher; digs in loose soil for concealed prey. Feeds on arthropods, mainly insects; predominantly beetles and ants, latter especially in hotter areas; taken on ground, supplemented by other invertebrates; also berries.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Northern Wheatear in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Northern Wheatear

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.