The Abyssinian wheatear was first formally described in 1837 as Saxicola lugubris by the German naturalist and explorer Eduard Rüppell with its type locality given as "the rocky valleys of the Abyssinian province of Simien, and on the volcanic hills around Gondar" (Vorkommen in der felsigen Thälern der Abyssinischen provinz Simen, und auf der vulkanischen Hügeln um Gondar).

[1] It is regarded, by some authorities, as being the same species as the mourning wheatear (Oenanthe lugens) of Northern Africa and the Middle East[2] but the I.O.C.

recognises the following subspecies:[3][5] Schalow's wheatear (O. l. schalowi) from the highlands of southern Kenya and northeastern Tanzania is regarded as a valid species by some authorities[8] but the I.O.C.

has pended its endorsement of this position while it waits for the results of genetic studies to be published.

The males have black upperparts, throat and breast and a grey cap with darker streaks.

They are generally unafraid of humans and perch in plain sight on rocks, boulders, and shrubs.

[4] The Abyssinian wheatear breeds from the early spring to late summer (March to August) in Ethiopia and Eritrea, in April and May in Somalia, from April to July in the Kenyan Great Rift Valley, and in March in northern Tanzania.