See text Cercomela The wheatears /ˈhwiːtɪər/ are passerine birds of the genus Oenanthe.

[2][3] The genus formerly included fewer species but molecular phylogenetic studies of birds in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae found that the genus Cercomela was polyphyletic with five species, including the type species C. melanura, phylogenetically nested within the genus Oenanthe.

[7] The name "wheatear" is not derived from "wheat" or any sense of "ear", but is a folk etymology of "white" and "arse", referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.

Most species are strongly sexually dimorphic; only the male has the striking plumage patterns characteristic of the genus, though the females share the white or red rump patches.

The genus contains 33 species:[9] Wheatears are terrestrial insectivorous birds of open, often dry, country.