Siberian Blue Robin
Larvivora cyane
A slender, long-legged songbird with a “crouched” profile. Adult male is unmistakable, with blue upperparts and snow-white belly separated by black running from the eye to the bend of the wing. Female warm brown with blue-tinted rump and whitish underparts. Juvenile resembles female but grayer above. Like most other robins, shy and retiring, inhabiting forested areas with dense undergrowth; on its breeding grounds, most easily detected by its song, an explosive “tsi-tsi-TEWEE-TEWEE.”
Identification
The Siberian blue robin (Larvivora cyane) is a small passerine bird that was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to belong to the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. It and similar small European species are often called chats. Recent research suggests that this species and some other East Asian members of Luscinia should be classified in a new genus, together with the Japanese and Ryūkyū robins. The genus name Larvivora comes from the Neo-Latin larva meaning caterpillar and -vorus meaning eating (vorace to devour), and cyane is Latin for "dark-blue". This bird is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in the eastern Palearctic from Siberia and northern Mongolia, northeastern China, Korea and across to Japan. It winters in southern and south-eastern Asia and Indonesia. The breeding habitat is coniferous forest with dense understory, often beside rivers or at woodland edges. It feeds on the ground but is very 'skulking'. In winter, this bird also tends to stay in dense vegetation. This species is a very rare vagrant to Europe, and has vagrant status even as far east as Pakistan. The Siberian blue robin was previously placed in the genus Luscinia. A large molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that Luscinia was not monophyletic. The genus was therefore split and several species including the Siberian blue robin were moved to the reinstated genus Larvivora.
Taxonomy
Genus: Larvivora; Family: Muscicapidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Larvivora cyane
- Authority
- (Pallas, 1776)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Larvivora
Range and habitat
Breeding range: PAL : e. Non-breeding range: se Asia.
- Breeding range
- PAL : e
- Non-breeding range
- se Asia
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail
Aramides saracura
Noisy and occasionally conspicuous inhabitant of marshy areas in and around forests. Gleaming red eye and legs. Gray below with a rufous upper-back, a gray neck and head, and a long green bill. Voice is a very loud fluted “kua-kua-kua.”
Cave Swiftlet
Collocalia linchi
Typical “white-bellied” swiftlet, endemic to Java, Sumatra, and smaller adjacent islands. Dark above, with a gray-brown breast and white belly. Note squared-off tail and green gloss on the back (only visible in good lighting). Rapid flight is erratic and bat-like. Can generally be seen over a range of habitats from lowlands up into highlands, but restricted to highlands in Sumatra. Extremely similar in appearance to Plume-toed Swiftlet, which has a bluer gloss (though lighting can make this tricky) and feathered hind toes (typically only visible in the hand). Gives a dry, scraping chittering, particularly at roosts.
Bluethroat
Luscinia svecica
Beautiful thrush-like bird that tends to stay hidden. Dull gray above, but a head-on view reveals a stunning pattern of electric blue and orange on the throat (some variation in pattern across range). Females show fainter colors than males, sometimes lacking blue entirely, but are still very boldly patterned. On the dullest young females, look for bold white eyebrow and throat, necklace of dark streaks, and rufous on the base of the tail. Variable song includes imitations of other species among a jumble of trills, whistles, and chirps. Typically found in scrubby, brushy habitat, often in edge areas: reedbeds, overgrown fields, and thickets. Usually skulky but singing males can perch conspicuously atop a bush. Breeds across Europe and Asia into Alaska; winters from northern Africa to southeast Asia.
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