The black-eared wheatear is a summer visitor to rocky and scrubby habitats across southern Europe and the Middle East, facing welfare challenges from habitat degradation and migration hazards.
Black-eared wheatear welfare is threatened by pesticide use in traditional orchard landscapes and loss of rocky scrub to agricultural intensification and afforestation. Breeding productivity declines when insect prey is scarce due to insecticide application, causing chick starvation. During migration, birds face illegal trapping and shooting across parts of the Mediterranean. Protection of traditional olive grove landscapes under agri-environment schemes and enforcement of hunting regulations along migration routes are the primary welfare interventions needed.