Afghanistan (B), Albania (B), Algeria, Andorra (B), Armenia (B), Austria (B), Azerbaijan (B), Bahrain, Belarus (B), Belgium (B), Benin, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B), Bulgaria (B), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, China (mainland) (B), Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B), Cyprus, Czech Republic (B), Denmark (B) (P), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia (B), Ethiopia, Faroe Islands (B), Finland (B) (P), France (B), Gambia, Georgia (B), Germany (B) (P), Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece (B) (P), Greenland (B), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Hungary (B), Iceland (B), India, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B), Iraq (P), Ireland (B), Israel, Italy (B) (P), Jordan (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan (B), Latvia (B), Lebanon (B), Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Liechtenstein (B), Lithuania (B), Luxembourg (B), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B), Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Moldova [Republic of] (B), Monaco, Mongolia (B), Montenegro (B), Morocco, Netherlands Antilles (B), Niger, Nigeria, Norway (B), Oman, Pakistan, Poland (B), Portugal (B), Qatar, Romania (B), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B), Russia (European) (B), Rwanda, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia (B), Sierra Leone, Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (B), Slovenia (B), Somalia, Spain (B), Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (B), Sweden (B), Switzerland (B), Syrian Arab Republic (B), Tajikistan (B), Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Tunisia, Turkey (B), Turkmenistan (B), Uganda, Ukraine (B) (P), United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (B), USA (B), Uzbekistan (B), Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Barbados, Bermuda, Botswana, Comoros, Côte dIvoire, Cuba, Gabon, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Seychelles, South Korea, St Pierre and Miquelon (P).
Population
Estimated population is 20,000,000 - 100,000,000 (2010).
Subspecies
Has in the past been considered conspecific with Somali Wheatear (Oenanthe phillipsi).
Subspecies seebohmi has been suggested as possibly representing a separate species. Birds in Iceland, Jan Mayen and Faeroes included in subspecies leucorhoa, but intermediate between that and nominate. Proposed subspecies nivea (southern Spain and Balearic Is) and virago (islands of eastern and southern Aegean, in south-eastern Europe) regarded as synonyms of libanotica.
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
leucorhoa (Gmelin, JF, 1789) - North-eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Jan Mayen and Faeroe Is. Non-breeding western Africa (mainly Senegal and Sierra Leone east to Mali).
oenanthe (Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern and central Europe and northern Asia (south to northern Kazakhstan and L Baikal) east to eastern Siberia and north-western North America (Alaska, north-western Canada). Non-breeding northern and central Africa.
libanotica (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) - Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Levant, Transcaucasia, northern Iran, Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, Tien Shan, Mongolia, southern Transbaikalia and northern China (Xinjiang east to Shanxi). Non-breeding northern Afrotropics and Mesopotamia.
seebohmi (Dixon, 1882) - North-western Africa. Non-breeding western Africa (mainly south-western Mauritania and Senegal). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Black-throated Wheatear (Oenanthe seebohmi).
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet