The Amur stonechat (''Saxicola stejnegeri'') or Stejneger's stonechat, is a species of stonechat native to eastern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It breeds in central and eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, northeastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, and eastern

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, and migrates south to southern China and

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

in winter.Urquhart, E., & Bowley, A. (2002): ''Stonechats. A Guide to the Genus Saxicola''.

Christopher Helm Christopher Alexander Roger Helm (born Dundee, 1 February 1937 – 20 January 2007) was a Scottish book publisher, notably of ornithology related titles, including the ''Helm Identification Guides''. Born in Dundee, he was raised in Forfar, wh ...

, London. It is a small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

11.5–13 cm long, very closely similar to the

Siberian stonechat The Siberian stonechat or Asian stonechat (''Saxicola maurus'') is a recently validated species of the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae). Like the other thrush-like flycatchers, it was often placed in the Turdidae in the past. It breed ...

in both plumage and behaviour, differing in only small details, notably having a slightly broader-based bill 4.7–5.7 mm wide (4.0–4.9 mm wide in Siberian stonechat) and slightly less white on the rump.Svensson, L. (1992). ''Identification Guide to European Passerines''. British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford. .

Vagrants Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...

have been reported west to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, east to

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, and south to

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

Taxonomy

Amur stonechat was generally considered a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of either

common stonechat Common stonechat is the name used for the ''Saxicola'' species ''Saxicola torquatus'' when this is treated in its broad sense. It is, however, now more widely considered to be a superspecies consisting of several related but distinct species, wh ...

(as ''Saxicola torquatus stejnegeri'') or Siberian stonechat (as ''Saxicola maurus stejnegeri'',), but recent genetic evidence has shown that it is distinct, in a basal position in the common stonechat

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

;Zink, R.M., Pavlova, A., Drovetski, S. V., Wink, M., & Rohwer, S. (2009). Taxonomic status and evolutionary history of the Saxicola torquata complex. ''Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution'' 52: 769-773
Abstract.
/ref> on which basis it is now accepted as a distinct species.IOC World Bird Lis

The Latin binomial commemorates the Norwegian ornithologist

Leonhard Hess Stejneger Leonhard Hess Stejneger (30 October 1851 – 28 February 1943) was a Norwegian-born American ornithologist, herpetologist and zoologist. Stejneger specialized in vertebrate natural history studies. He gained his greatest reputation with reptile ...

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of Amur stonechat
Saxicola Birds of Asia Wintering birds of Southeast Asia Birds described in 1908 {{Muscicapidae-stub