Variable Wheatear

The variable wheatear is a bird of the flycatcher family whose natural habitat is hot deserts. It is polymorphic: the black-bellied phase (opistholeuca) is entirely jet black except the rump, undertail coverts and the base and sides of the tail, which are white, while the white-bellied phase (picata) is like it but has a white belly, and there is also a white-crowned phase (capistrata). Females have the black parts replaced by sooty black (Wikipedia, general species account).

In winter it is common and generally distributed in Pakistan and north-western India southeast to Delhi, central Madhya Pradesh and northern Maharashtra (Khandesh), frequenting stony semi-desert, cultivation, ravines, village outskirts and nomadic encampments, usually from near sea level to about 1,200 m and observed once at 2,700 m in deep snow. It breeds in north-east and south-east Iran and Turkmenistan east to the western Tien Shan, the Pamirs and northern and western Pakistan, arriving in March (Baluchistan) or mid April (Chitral) and remaining till September. SoIB 2023 rates it a High conservation priority, a winter migrant of open habitat with a Large range of about 305,000 km², a rapid long-term decline of about 73% and a current decline of about 6% a year (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).