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Key information: The Cyprus Wheatear has a distinctive black and white plumage and it is therefore easily identified. The male can be seen singing from tree tops or bushes from April to June. The song resembles the sound of an insect (‘bizz-bizz-bizz-bizz…’). It spends the winter in Africa. It breeds only in Cyprus and nowhere else in the world (it is endemic to Cyprus). In the autumn, its plumage changes to duller colours.

Length: 14 – 15 cm

Habitat: Mountains and forests, farmland, towns and villages, scrub and bushes, coastal areas

When they can be seen: Spring, summer, autumn

What they eat: Invertebrates

In Cyprus: Can be seen from March to October all over Cyprus, from Troodos Mountains to coastal areas

Status: Migrant breeder

Illustration by Paschalis Dougalis