Amur Stonechat
Saxicola stejnegeri
A chunky little bird found in a wide variety of open landscapes, often sitting on exposed perches. Breeding male has a black head, a broad white half-collar, mostly rusty-red underparts, and a white undertail and rump. Non-breeding male is patchier, with a paler head and chest. Female is predominantly streaky brown above and pale below, with a small white patch on the wing but no strongly contrasting pattern on the face. Siberian Stonechat is extremely similar, and in areas of overlap, or in cases of vagrancy, most individuals are inseparable based on current knowledge. Amur Stonechat typically shows slightly less white on the rump.
Identification
A chunky little bird found in a wide variety of open landscapes, often sitting on exposed perches. Breeding male has a black head, a broad white half-collar, mostly rusty-red underparts, and a white undertail and rump. Non-breeding male is patchier, with a paler head and chest. Female is predominantly streaky brown above and pale below, with a small white patch on the wing but no strongly contrasting pattern on the face. Siberian Stonechat is extremely similar, and in areas of overlap, or in cases of vagrancy, most individuals are inseparable based on current knowledge. Amur Stonechat typically shows slightly less white on the rump.
Taxonomy
Amur stonechat was generally considered a subspecies of either common stonechat (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; on which basis it is now accepted as a distinct species.<p>The Latin binomial commemorates the Norwegian ornithologist Leonhard Hess Stejneger.
- Scientific name
- Saxicola stejnegeri
- Authority
- (Parrot, 1908)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Saxicola
Range and habitat
Breeding range: PAL : e Siberia and e Mongolia to Korea and Japan.. Non-breeding range: se Asia.
- Breeding range
- PAL : e Siberia and e Mongolia to Korea and Japan.
- Non-breeding range
- se Asia
Photos
Bird Calls
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