The common rock thrush (''Monticola saxatilis''), also known as rufous-tailed rock thrush or simply rock thrush, is a

chat Chat or chats may refer to: Communication * Conversation, particularly casual * Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time * Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat * SMS chat, a form of text messagi ...

belonging to the family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

. It was formerly placed in the family

Turdidae The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flyca ...

. The scientific name is from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. ''Monticola'' is from ''mons, montis'' "mountain", and ''colere'', "to dwell", and ''saxatilis'' means "rock-frequenting", from ''saxum'', "stone" .. It breeds in southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

across

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

to northern

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 ...

. This species is strongly migratory, all populations wintering in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

south of the

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. It is an uncommon visitor to northern Europe. Its range has contracted somewhat at the periphery in recent decades due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

. For example, in the early 20th century it bred in the

Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska Jura may refer to: Places *Jura, Scotland, island of the Inner Hebrides off Great Britain * Jūra, river in Lithuania Mountain ranges *Jura Mountains, on the French–Swiss–German border *Franconian Jura, south-central Germany *Swabian Jura, s ...

(

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) where none occur today,Tomek, Teresa & Bocheński, Zygmunt (2005):
Weichselian and Holocene bird remains from Komarowa Cave, Central Poland
. ''Acta zoologica cracoviensia'' 48A(1-2): 43-65. but it is not considered globally

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Description

This is a medium-sized but stocky thrush 17–20 cm in length. The summer male is unmistakable, with a blue-grey head, orange underparts and outer tail feathers, dark brown wings and white back. Females and immatures are much less striking, with dark brown scaly upperparts, and paler brown scaly underparts. The outer tail

feathers Feathers are epidermis (zoology), epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both Bird, avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in ...

are reddish, like the male.Clement, Peter & Hathaway, Ren (2000): ''Thrushes''.

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.

Behaviour and ecology

This species breeds in open dry hilly areas, usually above 1500 m. It

nests A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

in rock cavities, laying 4–5

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

s. It is omnivorous, eating a wide range of

insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...

, berries and small reptiles. The male common rock thrush has a clear and tuneful song.

Gallery

File:Common rock thrush.jpg, Common rock thrush, Boulmane de Dades, Morocco File:Monticola saxatilis MWNH 1830.JPG, Eggs, Collection

Museum Wiesbaden The Museum Wiesbaden is a two-branch museum of Art museum, art and Natural history museum, natural history in the Hesse, Hessian capital of Wiesbaden, Germany. It is one of the three Hessian State museums, in addition to the museums in Hessian ...

References

External links

*
Oiseaux
Photos, map, text.
Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.2 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael HeinzeHandbook of the Birds of the WorldMacaulay Library
direct lin
here
{{Taxonbar, from=Q235057

common rock thrush The common rock thrush (''Monticola saxatilis''), also known as rufous-tailed rock thrush or simply rock thrush, is a chat belonging to the family Muscicapidae. It was formerly placed in the family Turdidae. The scientific name is from Latin. '' ...

Birds of Eurasia Wintering birds of Africa

Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus