BIRDWALKERMONDAY

This Blog contains Wildlife and Bird Photos from Walks, Safaris, Birding Trips and Vacations. Most of the pictures have been taken with my Nikon P900 and P950X cameras. On the right of the page are labels for each species of Bird/Animal etc. Click on a label and it will show all of the photos taken for that species. I am adding as much information for each species as I can from sources Wikipedia. To see any pictures at full size just click on the picture.

Showing posts with label EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola). Show all posts

Sunday 21 January 2024

21-1-2024 ARROZ CAMPO CULLERA, VALENCIA - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola)

The European stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relatives in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae.

European stonechats breed in heathland, coastal dunes and rough grassland with scattered small shrubs and bramble, open gorse, tussocks or heather. They are short-distance migrants or non-migratory, with part of the population (particularly from northeastern parts of the range, where winters are colder) moving south to winter further south in Europe and more widely in north Africa.

Friday 12 January 2024

12-1-2024 ALBUFERA, VALENCIA - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola)

European stonechats first breed when they are one year old. They are monogamous during the breeding season but do not pair for life. The nest is built entirely by the female and is placed in dense vegetation close to the ground. It is a loose unwoven cup of dried grass lined with hair and feathers. The eggs are laid in early morning at daily intervals. The clutch is typically 4–6 eggs, which are pale blue to greenish-blue with red-brown freckles that are more numerous at the larger end. The average size of an egg is 18.7 mm × 14.4 mm (0.74 in × 0.57 in) with a weight of 2.0 g (0.071 oz). They are incubated for 13–14 days by the female beginning after the last egg is laid. Both parents care for and feed the chicks. They are brooded by the female. The nestlings fledge 12–16 days after hatching but continue to be fed by both parents for a further 4–5 days after which the female begins building a new nest for another brood while the male continues to feed the young for another 5–10 days. The parents raise two or three broods in a season.

Sunday 10 December 2023

10-12-2023 SOLLANA SOUTH, ALBUFERA - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola)

Stonechats are small, robin-like birds. Adult males are striking birds with mottled black backs and black heads linked at the nape. They have rich rufous underparts, and the sides of their necks are white. They have variable amounts of white on the vent and a white patch on each wing.

The female Stonechat is less boldly marked. Their breast is a duller orange-brown shade, and they are brownish above with a pale throat.

Juvenile Stonechats have dark brown upperparts with paler streaks and a faint eyebrow stripe (supercilium). Their underparts are lighter and include brown streaking on the chest and flanks.

Tuesday 5 December 2023

5-12-2023 SOLLANA NORTH, ALBUFERA - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola)

The stonechat is 11.5–13 cm (4.5–5.1 in) long and weighs 13–17 g (0.46–0.60 oz), slightly smaller than the European robin. Both sexes have distinctively short wings, shorter than those of the more migratory whinchat and Siberian stonechat. The summer male has black upperparts, a black head, an orange throat and breast, and a white belly and vent. It also has a white half-collar on the sides of its neck, a small white scapular patch on the wings, and a very small white patch on the rump often streaked with black. The female has brown upperparts and head, and no white neck patches, rump or belly, these areas being streaked dark brown on paler brown, the only white being the scapular patch on the wings and even this often being buffy-white.

The two subspecies differ in colour intensity following Gloger's rule, with S. r. rubicola paler and with larger white patches in the drier European continental and mediterranean climates, and S. r. hibernans darker brown with less white in the humid Atlantic oceanic climate. They intergrade broadly where their ranges meet, from southeastern England south through France and Spain, and many individuals are not identifiable to subspecies. Extreme examples of S. r. rubicola from the driest southern areas of its range such as the Algarve and Sicily are particularly pale and with a large white rump, and can be very similar to Siberian stonechats in appearance. NDNA microsatellite fingerprinting reveals a very small degree of separation between the two subspecies.

The male's song is high and twittering like a dunnock. Both sexes have a clicking call like stones knocking together.

Wednesday 29 November 2023

29-11-2023 EL SALER, ALBUFERA - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola)

The two subspecies differ in colour intensity following Gloger's rule, with S. r. rubicola paler and with larger white patches in the drier European continental and mediterranean climates, and S. r. hibernans darker brown with less white in the humid Atlantic oceanic climate. They intergrade broadly where their ranges meet, from southeastern England south through France and Spain, and many individuals are not identifiable to subspecies. Extreme examples of S. r. rubicola from the driest southern areas of its range such as the Algarve and Sicily are particularly pale and with a large white rump, and can be very similar to Siberian stonechats in appearance. nDNA microsatellite fingerprinting reveals a very small degree of separation between the two subspecies.

The male's song is high and twittering like a dunnock. Both sexes have a clicking call like stones knocking together.

Sunday 26 November 2023

26-11-2023 BENICOLET, VALENCIA - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola)

Sunday 29 October 2023

29-10-2023 PEGO MARJAL, ALICANTE - EUROPEAN STONECHAT (MALE) (Saxicola rubicola)

The stonechat is 11.5–13 cm long and weighs 13–17 g, slightly smaller than the European robin. Both sexes have distinctively short wings, shorter than those of the more migratory whinchat and Siberian stonechat. The summer male has black upperparts, a black head, an orange throat and breast, and a white belly and vent. It also has a white half-collar on the sides of its neck, a small white scapular patch on the wings, and a very small white patch on the rump often streaked with black. The female has brown upperparts and head, and no white neck patches, rump or belly, these areas being streaked dark brown on paler brown, the only white being the scapular patch on the wings and even this often being buffy-white.