The road from the park to lodge goes up a steep hill with large boulders. This is the only place we found this
small, bouncy bird. The male is above, female below. Mourning Wheatear is divided into three subspecies groups:
- Mourning - North Africa
- Arabian - Western Arabia
- Schalow's - East Africa
This is Schalows's which is endemic to the Rift Valley of Kenya and adjacent Tanzania. It is sometimes treated
as a separate species,
Schalow's Wheatear (O. schalowi) or Abyssinian Black Wheatear (O. lugubris schalowi). It differs
from other populations not only in plumage of both sexes but in behavior and voice. Some authors (e.g. IOC) classify
this bird in the genus lugubris instead of lugens. Mourning Wheatear has also been treated as conspecific
with Finsch's Wheatear (O. finschii) of the Middle East. Wheatears were formerly classified as Turdidae
(Thrushes) but are now thought to be in the Muscicapidae (Old World Flycatchers).
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