Blue Rock Thrush. Blue Rock Thrush Habitats of the Blue Rock Thrush

Blue Rock Thrush

The loud song of the blue rock thrush is melodic and melancholy. It is especially noticeable when other birds become silent in the evenings or during rain. From time to time, the blue rock thrush's song also exhibits coarser sounds. As a rule, this bird begins to sing while sitting on top of a stone, but it happens that it also sings during a low-level flight with its tail spread out, which ends in a dive downwards.

Nutrition

The blue rock thrush is a hunter that waits for its prey. He sits in an elevated place and waits for the prey to come into his field of vision. Its food consists mainly of insects and, from time to time, berries, which it picks up directly from the ground or pecks from plants. This bird often lives near bodies of water, as it drinks a lot and bathes in water every day.

Reproduction

Each pair sticks to the same nesting site all its life, which can be located in a rock crevice or a small cave. The blue rock thrush, which is a migratory bird, settles in it at the end of March and leaves it in September. The nest is built from hard materials, but it is lined softly. The female lays four to five blue eggs with red spots in May, which incubate for 12-13 days. After birth, the chicks spend about 18 days in the nest, after which they gain the ability to fly in June. For some time they accompany their parents on their flights, then they begin an independent life. The male plumage typical for this species appears only in the second or third year of life.

Notes

Links

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See what “Blue Rock Thrush” is in other dictionaries:

Blue Rock Thrush- Monticola solitarius see also 18.15.5. Genus Rock Thrush Monticola Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius The male is completely blue with blackish wings and tail, birds with Far East the abdomen is red-brown. Females and young... ... Birds of Russia. Directory

blue rock thrush- mėlynasis akmeninis strazdas statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Monticola solitarius engl. blue rock thrush vok. Blaumerle, f rus. blue rock thrush, m pranc. monticole merle bleu, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas –… … Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

Pied Rock Thrush- Monticola saxatilis see also 18.15.5. Genus Rock Thrush Monticola Pied Rock Thrush Monticola saxatilis Male with white rump, rusty chest and belly, females and young rufous; The sides of the tail are red. Nests in the mountains... ... Birds of Russia. Directory

Rock thrush- (Monticola) a genus of songbirds from the family. blackbirds (see). They are similar in size to true thrushes (Turdus, Merula), but in the shape of the body and beak they are more similar to redstarts. Eight species belonging to D. live in the rocky mountains of the Old World and ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary F. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Blackbird- Turdus merula see also 18.15.1. Genus Blackbird Turdus Blackbird Turdus merula Large blackbird. The male is completely black with an orange beak and eye ring, the female and young are brown with a dark tail, a transverse pattern on the chest and light... ... Birds of Russia. Directory

White-throated Thrush- Turdus torquatus see also 18.15.1. Genus Blackbirds Turdus White-throated Thrush Turdus torquatus Large thrush (noticeably larger than the starling). The male is brown black with light edges of feathers and a white crescent-shaped spot on the crop, wings with white... ... Birds of Russia. Wikipedia Reference

Systematic position
Class: Birds - Aves.
Squad: Passeriformes - Passeriformes.
Family: Flycatchers - Muscicapidae.
View: Pied rock thrush - Monticola saxatilis (Linnaeus, 1766)

Status. 2 “Vulnerable” - 2, UV.

Global Threat Category on the IUCN Red List

"Least Concern" - Least Concern, LC ver. 3.1 (2001).

Category according to IUCN Red List criteria

The regional population belongs to the category “Vulnerable” - Vulnerable, VU D1+2. R. A. Mnatsekanov, P. A. Tilba.

Belonging to the objects of international agreements and conventions ratified by the Russian Federation

Do not belong.

Brief morphological description

The Pied Rock Thrush is a bird the size of a starling. ♂ has a grayish-blue head and back, a white rump, and a red lower body and tail; ♀ monochromatic brown color with a transverse dark pattern.

Spreading

Global range: North-West Africa, Eurasia. In the Russian Federation it inhabits the Caucasus, Altai, the northern tip of Lake Baikal and the Barguzin Range. . The regional nesting area is divided into two isolated areas.

One of them covers the high-mountainous regions of the GKH from the Fisht-Oshtenovsky mountain range to the border with the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Another section is located in the low-mountain hills in the vicinity of Gelendzhik and Novorossiysk. Sometimes migratory birds were observed in the Eastern Azov region. In KK it is a breeding migratory bird.

Features of biology and ecology

The nesting sites of the spotted blackbird are areas of low-grass high-mountain meadows alternating with rock outcrops, low-mountain open forests of the Mediterranean type on gravelly soil, and sea coastal cliffs. Nests are made on the ground or in rocks. There are 4–6 eggs in a clutch. Blackbirds feed on insects and berries.

Number and its trends

In the southern region of the European part of Russia, the number of species is estimated at 5–15 thousand pairs. The species is rare in the KK; individual breeding pairs are rare. There is a tendency to reduce the occurrence of birds in the Gelendzhik-Novorossiysk part of the range. Total number type, according to expert assessment, does not exceed 20–30 pairs.

Limiting factors

Destruction of nesting habitats in areas of permanent bird settlements during the development of Mediterranean landscapes of the Black Sea region.

Necessary and additional security measures

The pied rock thrush is protected in the territories of the State Nature Reserve. It is necessary to create protected areas (natural monuments) in the Gelendzhik-Novorossiysk part of the range in the nesting areas of each pair of birds. Widespread propaganda for the protection of this endangered species is advisable.

Information sources. 1. Belik, 2005; 2. Kazakov, Bakhtadze, 1998; 3. Kazakov, Belik, 1971; 4. Oleynikov, Kharchenko, 1964; 5. Ochapovsky, 1967a; 6. Petrov, Kurdova, 1961; 7. Birds Soviet Union, 1954b; 8. Stepanyan, 2003; 9. Turov, 1932; 10. IUCN, 2004. Compiled. P. A. Tilba.

A group of species belonging to the genus is also good for keeping rock thrushes- Monticola. Our fauna includes 3 species. These birds have pronounced sexual dimorphism in coloration. The male Pied Rock Thrush (Monticola saxatilis) is quite brightly colored. Its head and neck are blue, its back and wings are dark brown, its rump is white, and its lower body is reddish-brown. It lives in the mountain systems of the south of Western and Central Siberia, as well as in the mountains Central Asia, Caucasus and Carpathians. Inhabits dry mountain slopes covered with sparse vegetation.

The behavior of rock thrushes is characterized by frequent squatting and tail twitching.

The song consists of pleasant trills, whistles and hooves, imitating other birds. A. Brem writes: “The singing is excellent, rich and varied, loud and full-sounding and at the same time tender and iridescent; it is especially distinguished by the fact that, depending on the place where the singer lives and on his talent, it contains phrases and whole stanzas from the songs of other birds, such as the nightingale, blackbird, song thrush, warbler, skylark, skylark, quail, rubythroat, chaffinch, oriole, hazel grouse and even the rooster.” At the same time, the knees of the imitated birds sound very gracefully when performed by the Pied Rock Thrush.

Birds build nests between stones or in rock cracks. These are rather loose structures made from plant debris. They are hidden very skillfully, so it is difficult to find them. The clutch consists of 4-6 greenish-blue eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs and feed the chicks.

At home, rock thrushes are fed in the same way as real ones. Hand raised animals are becoming very interesting. They are able to reproduce in enclosures and feed chicks of other species. A. Brem believes that “they can safely be ranked among the best indoor birds that exist in Europe.”

Slightly inferior to him in singing abilities blue rock thrush (Monticola solitarius), who, however, also has a reputation as a very good singer. It lives in the mountains of Southern Europe, North Africa, Asia east to Pacific Ocean, where it settles along rocky sea shores. Males of the western subspecies are blue, while the Far Eastern blackbirds have a two-color color - the upperparts, head and neck are blue, and the abdomen and undertail are red-brown. Females, like other rock thrushes, have a dark brown, rather inconspicuous coloration. They have light rusty-brown spots on their throats.

Bluebirds in Mediterranean countries, and especially in Greece and Malta, are considered favorite indoor singers. Foster animals taken from nests by chicks adapt well to captivity.

However, for domestic hunters, the most favorite among rock thrushes is forest rock thrush (Monticola gularis). He lives in the forests of the south of the Far East and rarely gets into the cages of amateurs. It is somewhat smaller than its brothers. Males have a blue cap and shoulders, as well as the outer webs of their flight and tail feathers. The throat and spots on the wings are white. For this reason it bears another name - white-throated blackbird. The sides of the head, wings and tail are brown-black. The female has a brownish-gray back, wings and tail, with transverse stripes on her back. dark spots, the “cap” on the head is gray, the lower part of the body is whitish with transverse dark brown streaks. Unlike its cliff-dwelling relatives, the Wood Rock Thrush inhabits mixed and coniferous forests along the slopes of the hills. It is not numerous; northern populations are classified as migratory birds.

His song contains a set of beautiful whistle sounds. This, as well as the elegant appearance and relatively small sizes make the Wood Rock Thrush a desirable pet for many bird collections.

Vladimir Ostapenko. "Birds in your home." Moscow, "Ariadia", 1996