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European Stonechat, Tarabilla común

Saxicola rubicola

Description:

Juvenile. Small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the Common Stonechat. The Stonechat is 11.5–13 cm long, slightly smaller than the European Robin. Both sexes have distinctively short wings. 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 male's song is high and twittering. Both sexes have a clicking call like stones knocking together. In the past, the European Stonechat was generally considered conspecific with the Siberian Stonechat and African Stonechat, lumped together as Common Stonechat S. torquatus. A new review adding mtDNA cytochrome b sequence and nuclear DNA microsatellite fingerprinting evidence strongly supports their separation into distinct species.

Habitat:

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. Spotted in a prairie area close to rocky sea-shore

Notes:

Camera Model: NIKON D300. Exposure Time: 1/500 sec.; f/11; ISO Speed Rating: 800. Exposure Bias: +1 EV; Focal Length: 300.0 mm. No flash fired.

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arlanda
Spotted by
arlanda

Castropol, Asturias, Spain

Spotted on Aug 19, 2013
Submitted on Nov 5, 2013

Related Spottings

Common Stonechat Common stone chat Saxicola maurus (Siberian Stonechat) 黑喉石䳭 Saxicola stejnegeri 黑喉石䳭

Nearby Spottings

Eurasian Wren, Chochín Five-spot Burnet, gitana de cinco puntos Little Egret; Garceta Común Bell heather, Brezo ceniciento

Reference

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