Habitat
In Alaska, this species is frequently distributed on mountains and dry, stony, barren hilltops where caribou congregate (Bent 1949). Also found in areas where rock fields are juxtaposed with tundra (Kessel and Gibson 1978). Prefers dry and elevated tundra with rubble piles and precipices (Portenko 1989). Recorded on mountainsides about 330 m above timberline in Denali National Park (Dixon 1938), and about 750 m above timberline in the Brooks Range (Conder 1989). Always below permanent snowline (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959). Absent from coastal plains (B. MacCaffery per. Comm. In Kren and Zoerb 1997).
References
Bent, A. C. 1949. Life histories of North American thrushes, kinglets, and their allies. U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull.196. 452 pp., 51 pls.
Conder, P. 1989. The Wheatear. Christopher Helm, London.
Dixon, J. S. 1938. Birds and mammals of Mount McKinley National Park, Alaska. National Park Service Faunal Series, No. 3. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. 235 p.
Gabrielson, I. N. and F. C. Lincoln. 1959. The Birds of Alaska. The Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, PA and Wildl. Manage. Inst., Washington, D.C. 922 pp.
Kessel, B., and D.D. Gibson. 1978. Status and distribution of Alaska birds. Studies Avian Biology. In: Studies in Avian Biology No. 1. R. J. Raitt, Ed. Cooper Ornithological Society. 1:1-100.
Kren, J. and A. C. Zoerb. 1997. Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe). In The Birds of North America, No.316 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
Portenko, L. A. 1989. Birds of the Chukchi Peninsula and Wrangell Island. Vol. 2. Amerind Publ. Co., New Delhi (Russian ed., 1973).
