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Eastern Black-eared Wheatears are medium-sized wheatears, which are roughly robin-sized birds. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Males can have either a black throat or a grey throat. Male Eastern Black-eared Wheatears have a prominent facial mask, with wide black eye-stripes extending to also include the ear coverts (and in black morphology males also the chin and throat) contrasting with the rest of the head, which is grey to buff or ochre. The crown, nape of the neck and chest are also buff/ochre in fresh plumage. The wings and the uppertail, except for two white panels connecting to the white rump, are black. In worn plumage the buff/ochre hues disappear entirely. Males are then all grey and black. Female Eastern Black-eared Wheatears have highly cryptic plumage affording them excellent camouflage on rocky/sandy terrain. They are ochrous greyish-brown throughout, with an inconspicuous facial mask. The upperparts are a shade darker than the underparts. The wing feathers are dark. When fresh, they have broad ochrous edges, which disappear when worn. They also have two types of throat, which can either be a shade lighter than the underparts or, together with the ear coverts, vermiculated dark-grey. The irises of both sexes are dark. The slender straight bill, legs and feet are black in males and dark-grey in females. Juvenile males resemble females, but with some vermiculation on ear coverts and possibly throat and with wide buff/ochre edge lining on the scapulars.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Eastern Black-eared Wheatear is available HERE .

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear are a strongly migratory species. Their breeding range extends from the Balkans, via Asia Minor, to parts of the Middle East, Iraq and Iran. The winter quarters are in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly in Sudan and Ethiopia. During their migration they can be found basically anywhere between breeding areas and winter quarters (including, e.g., in Arabia).

Eastern Black-eared Wheatears breed anywhere along the eastern Adriatic coastline, as far northwards as border region of Italy and Slovenia, and throughout the rest of south-eastern Europe, with the Danube as the northern border.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatears have a preference for breeding in open, often barren and/or stony, country with scattered trees, shrubs or rocks, usually below 600 m altitude.

We have not seen an Eastern Black-eared Wheatear in Europe yet. The bird shown below was found by D. Wilczynska on the southern slopes of the Caucasus in Georgia in June 2018. All photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by D. Wilczynska.