Home / Birds / Kuşlar / Saxicola rubetra / Saxicola rubetra (Whinchat / Çayır taşkuşu)
1/2

Saxicola rubetra (Whinchat / Çayır taşkuşu)

slideshow metadata Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
Saxicola rubetra (Whinchat / Çayır taşkuşu)


Saxicola rubetra (Whinchat / Çayır taşkuşu) [Male/Erkek] from Bornova, İzmir - 23.04. 2009.

The Whinchat Saxicola rubetra is a small migratory passerine bird breeding in Europe and western Asia and wintering in Africa. Its scientific name means "small rock-dweller", in reference to its habitat. Saxicola derives from Latin saxum ("rock") + incola ("dwelling"); rubetra is a Latin term for a small bird.

The Whinchat is similar in size to its relative the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), 12–14 cm long and 13–26 g weight. Both sexes have brownish upperparts mottled darker, a buff throat and breast, a pale buff to whitish belly, and a blackish tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers.

The male in breeding plumage has blackish face mask almost encircled by a strong white supercilium and malar stripe, a bright orange-buff throat and breast, and small white wing patches on the greater coverts and inner median coverts. The female is duller overall, in particular having browner face mask, pale buffy-brown breast, and a buff supercilium and malar stripe, and smaller or no white wing patches. Males in immature and winter plumage and are similar to females, except that adult males retain the white wing patches all year. Though fairly similar to females and immatures of the European Stonechat S. rubicola, the Whinchat can readily be distinguished by its conspicuous supercilium and whiter belly, and also in western Europe, by being paler overall than the western European Stonechat subspecies S. rubicola hibernans. It also differs structurally in being slightly slimmer and less 'dumpy', and having longer wingtips (an adaptation to its long-distance migration). It is more easily confused with female or immature Siberian Stonechat S. maura, which (also being a long-distance migrant) shares the longer wingtips; however, Siberian Stonechat can be distinguished by its conspicuous unmarked pale orange-buff rump (in Whinchat, the rump is the same mottled brown colour as the back).

Its main call is a hue-tac-tac, the 'tac' softer and less grating than that of the European Stonechat; the call is used both for contact between birds and predator alarms. The male has a whistling, crackly but soft song used during the breeding season, consisting of a mixture of soft whistles, tacs and more grating sounds; it is often mimetic, including phrases from the songs of at least 12 other assorted bird species. On the wintering grounds, it often gives alarm calls but only occasionally sings, particularly at the end of winter when starting spring migration.

Reference: 1. WiKiPeDia.


Author Bayram GÖÇMEN
Created on Thursday 23 April 2009
Posted on Saturday 02 July 2011
Tags İzmir, TURKEY / TÜRKİYE
Albums
Visits 7894