The Amber Mountain rock thrush (''Monticola sharpei erythronotus'') is a

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Norther ...

, formerly placed in the

Turdidae The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flycat ...

together with the other chats. It is now usually considered a subspecies of the

forest rock thrush The forest rock thrush (''Monticola sharpei'') is a songbird in the family Muscicapidae, formerly placed in the Turdidae together with the other chats. It now includes Benson's rock thrush and Amber Mountain rock thrush as subspecies. It is ...

, although Clements considers it a distinct species.

Distribution

The Amber Mountain rock thrush is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

where it occurs only on the Amber Mountain massif in the north of the island.

Description

This is a small forest-dwelling thrush, growing to a length of about .

Males Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

have blue hoods, chestnut upperparts, bright orange tail with brown central feathers and orange underparts.

Females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...

are mostly brown with an orange wash on the underparts and lack the blue hood. Males are distinguished from other rock-thrushes by the dark rufous back, while the females have bright orange tails and lack white streaking on the breast. Amber mountain rock thrush (Monticola sharpei erythronotus) male.jpg, male Amber mountain rock thrush (Monticola sharpei erythronotus) female.jpg, female Amber mountain rock thrush (Monticola sharpei erythronotus) female 2.jpg, female

Habitat and ecology

It inhabits mid-altitude and montane humid,

evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, Live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zone ...

from , and forages inconspicuously in the understorey and on the ground, sometimes sallying to take aerial prey. The species nests in tree hollows or in crevices under overhangs.

Conservation status

The Amber Mountain rock thrush is listed by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

as Endangered because it has a very small range and its forest habitat is declining in both area and quality. The population is small and believed to be declining, albeit slowly. The total population of this species is estimated to number less than 5,000 individuals, which occur in a single block of forest in the

Amber Mountain National Park Montagne d'Ambre National Park is a national park in the Diana Region of northern Madagascar. The park is known for its endemic flora and fauna, water falls and crater lakes. It is north of the capital, Antananarivo and is one of the most biolog ...

. It may be declining, although so far there has been relatively low levels of habitat loss in the area of its occurrence.

Taxonomic notes

The Amber Mountain rock thrush has been regarded as a separate species but this view is in doubt. It had been split from the

because of a variety of morphological differences and in spite of an absence of genetic distinctiveness. As the forest rock thrush and

Benson's rock thrush Benson's rock thrush (''Monticola sharpei bensoni'') is a songbird in the family Muscicapidae, formerly placed in the Turdidae together with the other chats. It is usually included in the forest rock thrush (''M. sharpei'') as a subspecies; e.g. ...

have been lumped into ''Monticola sharpei'' this taxon has followed suit.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2161792 Amber Mountain rock thrush Endemic birds of Madagascar Amber Mountain rock thrush Taxonomy articles created by Polbot