Definitions

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  • noun Plural form of wheatear.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • To my delight, when I visited I discovered several wheatears, along with another passage migrant, the whinchat, all feeding to build up their fat reserves before undertaking the epic journey south to Africa.

    Birdwatch: Wheatear 2011

  • The first migrant was a pair of wheatears and, as always, I was surprised at just how colourful they look, especially the male, with the blue-grey back, black wings and orange flush on the breast.

    Country Diary: Loch Bunachton 2011

  • The first wheatears have returned to the islands, and chiffchaffs and willow warblers are beginning to pass through on their spring journeys.

    Country diary: South Uist 2011

  • In addition there is an impressive spring migration of swifts, larks and wheatears, together with a wide range of raptors.

    Red Sea Nubo-Sindian tropical desert and semi-desert 2008

  • They went to the Rhine and Lake District in 1794 and later made tours in Southern England, during which her beloved dog Chance chased wheatears on the beach.

    Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) 2008

  • Steppe representatives include typical species such as lark (5 species), wheatears, pipits, as well as numerous other unusual and rare species (Chettusia gregaria, Otis tetrax, Anthropoides virgo, Circus macrourus, Сircus pygargus, Aquila rapax).

    Kazakh upland 2008

  • An hour later, just as the smock was finished and the boys were gone to get tea ready, the shepherd entered at the gate carrying a quantity of wheatears threaded on crow-quills.

    The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII. No. 358, November 6, 1886. Various

  • "John, you are a greedy man, and Jack is not lazy; he does not approve of killing birds; he thinks it is cruel, that is why he has not seen to the traps, so you must not scold him about it, will you?" said Fairy, looking up into the shepherd's grave face, as she stroked the white breasts of the wheatears.

    The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII. No. 358, November 6, 1886. Various

  • "Why, again Jack has forgotten to attend to those traps for the wheatears; when I did them myself I caught a hundred in one day; now I leave them to him I get perhaps eighteen to twenty, because he is too lazy to dig out the turf and make the traps properly; here are only ten brace this evening, and they are as plentiful as sparrows just now."

    The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII. No. 358, November 6, 1886. Various

  • The wheatears flirted their black and white persons over the rocks, the gulls dipped and wheeled, planed past them on level wings, uttering their harsh cries, or for a flashing moment rested so close that the blot of blood-red above their curved yellow beaks showed vividly; out to sea a gannet hung a sheer two hundred feet in air, then dropped, beak downwards ....

    Secret Bread F. Tennyson Jesse

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