The top of the head and the nape of the male are pale grey, separated by a white eye stripe from the black face and throat.

The flanks and under-tail coverts are orange and the tail white at the base with a dark terminal band.

The female has similar markings but the colours are more muted and the dark face and throat replaced by a grey eye patch.

The breeding range of the Kurdish wheatear covers the Middle East, south-east Turkey, northern Iraq, western Iran, and parts of the former USSR.

It moves southwards in winter to southern Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and north-east Somalia[3] and occasionally to north west India.