# Northern wheatear (*Oenanthe oenanthe*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-wheatear  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe), also called the Wheatear or European wheatear, is a bird in the family Muscicapidae and the order Passeriformes, in the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup. It is a small bird with an adult body mass of 25.4 g and a wingspan of 28 cm. This migratory, perching invertivore lives in grassland and has a geographic range of 29,250,000 km². It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not an IUCN threatened category.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 23.1 g – 25.4 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 28 cm |
| Lifespan | 9.6 years |
| Diet | Invertivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 10.1 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | grassland |
| Egg incubation | 14 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 5.3 – 5.5 |
| Age at maturity | 12 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 2 |
| Lifestyle | Perching |
| Migration | Migratory |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Passeriformes
- family: Muscicapidae
- genus: Oenanthe
- species: *Oenanthe oenanthe* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Montacilla oenanthe*, *Motacilla oeanthe*, *Motacilla oenanthe*, *Motacilla vitiflora*, *Oenanthe cinerea*, *Oenanthe oenanthe rostrata*, *Oenanthe oenanthe schiöleri*, *Oenanthe vitiflora*, *Saxicola albicaudata*, *Saxicola albicoccygea*, *Saxicola oenanthe*, *Saxicola oenanthe argentea*, *Saxicola rostrata*, *Sylvia oenanthe*, *Vitiflora cinerea*, *Vitiflora grisea*, *Vitiflora major*, *Vitiflora oenanthe*, *Vitiflora septentrionalis*

## Common questions

### What kind of animal is the northern wheatear?

The northern wheatear is a bird in the family Muscicapidae, part of the songbirds and other perching birds subgroup.

### How big is the northern wheatear?

The northern wheatear is a small bird with an adult body mass of 25.4 g and a wingspan of 28 cm.

### What does the northern wheatear eat?

The northern wheatear is an invertivore, and its trophic level is carnivore.

### What habitat does the northern wheatear live in?

The northern wheatear lives in grassland, where it has a perching lifestyle.

### Is the northern wheatear endangered?

No. The northern wheatear is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, which is not an IUCN threatened category.

### How long does the northern wheatear live?

The northern wheatear has a lifespan of 9.6 years, with values up to 10.08 years reported by our sources.

### How many eggs does the northern wheatear lay?

The northern wheatear lays 5.5 eggs per clutch and has 2 clutches per year, with an egg incubation period of 14 days.

### Who named the northern wheatear?

The northern wheatear, Oenanthe oenanthe, was named by (Linnaeus, 1758).

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Northern wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-wheatear