wheatear

[hweet-eer, weet-]

noun

1. any of several small, chiefly Old World thrushes of the genus Oenanthe, having a distinctive white rump, especially O. oenanthe, of Eurasia and North America.

wheatear

/ ˈwiːtˌɪə /

noun

1. any small northern songbird of the genus Oenanthe, esp O. oenanthe, a species having a pale grey back, black wings and tail, white rump, and pale brown underparts: subfamily Turdinae (thrushes)

Word History and Origins

Origin of wheatear¹

1585–95; probably back formation from wheatears, for *whiteers white rump. See white, arse

Word History and Origins

Origin of wheatear¹

C16: back formation from wheatears (wrongly taken as plural), probably from _white + _arse ; compare Dutch witstaart, French culblanc white tail

Example Sentences

Even more amazing, geologgers show that another small songbird, the northern wheatear, migrates from North America to sub-Saharan Africa.

Read more on Salon

Another discovery was that non-scavenger birds such as the meadow pipit, northern wheatear, common reed bunting, bluethroat and lapland bunting all fed on the “bloom” of arthropods, such as blowfly, that developed on the carrion.

Read more on The Guardian

The Northern wheatear was being pursued by the young sparrowhawk across a boat, before the raptor crashed into a window and knocked itself out.

Read more on BBC

A species known as the northern wheatear is known to fly 2,000 miles nonstop from Canada to the United Kingdom, for example, Norris says.

Read more on Newsweek

Northern wheatears fly from Africa to Alaska, and back.

Read more on Economist