Bumblebee, wheatears, and lizard

We continued the walk in the Doldersumse veld, on 28 April 2013. Dandelion flowers attract a tree bumblebee. A bit further, a honeybee on another dandelion.Then, three northern wheatears on a fence.

Also, a male stonechat.

A small common lizard runs toward a hole in the ground.

Back in the garden. A male blackcap sings.

A female “orangecap” blackcap is present as well.

A paper about the phylogeny of the Oenanthe lugens complex is published in the latest issue (December 2003) of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution journal by Schweizer & Shirihai. In this study the authors recommended splitting of the Mourning Wheatear complex into three different species, but stopped short of recognizing the North African taxon halophila as a distinct species, i.e. the Maghreb Wheatear Oenanthe halophila: here.

Wheatears in the Netherlands: here.

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