The first confirmed nesting in this country was only in 2021, and since then, more than fifteen occupied sites have been recorded, an expansion that is expected to continue due to climate change.
The Isabel Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) resembles the adult male in autumn plumage, the adult female and the first winter bird of the Northern Wheatear (O. oenanthe), but it is on average a little larger, with an often more upright posture, and proportionally a little shorter wings and tail. The upper side is sandy brown. The coverts and scapulars appear the same color as the back, while the primary flight feathers are darker. The alula (the wrist feather) is black and contrasts well with the rest of the wing (read How to distinguish Isabel and Northern Wheatears?).
It nests in steppes and semi-deserts, often strewn with rocks. Its nest is placed in a cavity (in rodent or bee-eater burrows for example). It often stands on the ground, where it runs quickly and often stands very upright at a small height. Its diet consists mainly of insects, with a few seeds in addition. It is a migratory passerine bird.
| Nesting area of the Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) in Europe and locations (red dots) of recently colonized areas in Moldova. |
It breeds from NE Greece to NE China through Turkey, the Middle East, S Russia and Ukraine and Central Asia, and it winters in Africa, in the Arabian Peninsula and southern Asia.
The Republic of Moldova is located in the northwest of the Black Sea, between Romania and Ukraine, and in an article published in 2024 in the journal Land, we learn that no confirmed nesting cases of this species were known until 2021, when a juvenile was discovered near an adult on June 5 near Beșalma, in the Autonomous Region of Gagauzia. Between 2021 and 2024, mainly within the framework of the national monitoring program for common breeding birds, fifteen occupied sites were found in the districts of Căușeni, Cahul, Ștefan Vodă, Taraclia, Basarabeasca and Anenii Noi and in Gagauzia. The couples were settled in the dry steppes of Bugeac, mainly on overgrazed slopes dotted with shrubs and trees such as the Bohemian Olivier (Elaeagnus angustifolia), which provide them with essential shade during the afternoon and serve as perches. Given the areas of favorable habitat in the country and the current known density, the actual total population could number at least several dozen pairs.
-The Northern Wheatear would have colonized Moldova from Ukraine or Romania, and its installation would make it possible to connect these two populations. Since the 1960s, its range has expanded westwards, successively reaching Crimea (read Crimea: steppes, lagoons, mountains and birds), Greece, Bulgaria and Romania (read The Danube Delta and Dobruja from July 27 to August 14, 2003). In Ukraine, its range has expanded significantly northward due to intense desertification caused by intensive agriculture, which may have led to an increase in gopher numbers (Spermophilus sp.), with which it lives in symbiosis (read The close relationships between the Wheatear and certain rodents). Since the 1980s, it has also colonized southern Russia due to increasing deforestation.
The authors developed a distribution model using MaxEnt software, which uses climatic and environmental variables from the species’ known sites of presence to predict its likely future distribution: given the current trajectory of climate change, the Northern Wheatear Isabella is expected to continue to colonize new territories in northern Moldova.
Isabel Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) building its nest on a plateau in the Balkans, not far from the Black Sea.
Source : Birds Captured
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