The blue rock thrush (''Monticola solitarius'') is a species of
chat
Chat or chats may refer to:
Communication
* Conversation, particularly casual
* Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time
* Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat
* SMS chat, a form of text messagin ...
. This
thrush-like
Old World flycatcher
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 ...
was formerly placed 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 ...
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 ...
. It breeds in southern Europe, northwest Africa, and from
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
to northern China and Malaysia. The blue rock thrush is the official national bird of
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
(the word for it in Maltese being ''Merill'') and was shown on the
Lm 1 coins that were part of the country's former currency.
Taxonomy
The blue rock thrush was described by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
in 1758 in the
10th edition of his ''
Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
'' under the
binomial name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''Turdus solitarius''.
The scientific name is from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. ''Monticola'' is from ''mons, montis'' "mountain", and ''colere'', "to dwell", and the
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
''solitarius'' means "solitary".
[.]
The rock thrush genus
Monticola was formerly placed in the family
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 ...
but
molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
studies have shown that the species in the genus are more closely related to members of the Old World flycatcher family
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 ...
.
There are five recognised
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
:
* ''M. s. solitarius'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – northwest Africa, south Europe, north Turkey to Georgia and Azerbaijan.
* ''M. s. longirostris'' (
Blyth, 1847) – Greece and west and south Turkey through the Middle East to the northwest Himalayas to northeast Africa and India
* ''M. s. pandoo'' (
Sykes Sykes may refer to:
People
* Sir Alan Sykes, 1st Baronet, businessman and British politician
* Annette Sykes, New Zealand human rights lawyer and Māori activist
* Bob Sykes (American football), American football player
* Bob Sykes (baseball), ...
, 1832) – central Himalayas to east China and north Vietnam to
Greater Sunda Islands
The Greater Sunda Islands (Indonesian and Malay: ''Kepulauan Sunda Besar'') are four tropical islands situated within Indonesian Archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean. The islands, Borneo, Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra, are internationally recognised fo ...
* ''M. s. philippensis'' (
Statius Müller, 1776) – east Mongolia to
Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh: ...
south to Japan, extreme north Philippines and northeast China to Indonesia
* ''M. s. madoci''
Chasen ChaSen is a morphological parser for the Japanese language. This tool for analyzing morphemes was developed at the Matsumoto laboratory, Nara Institute of Science and Technology.
See also
* MeCab
MeCab is an open-source text segmentation lib ...
, 1940 –
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...
and north
Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
There is a proposal to split ''Monticola solitarius'' into two species: a western taxon comprising ''M. s. solitarius'' and ''M. s. longirostris'' and an eastern taxon with ''M. s. philippensis'', ''M. s. pandoo'' and ''M. s. madoci''.
Description
The blue rock thrush is a
starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...
-sized bird, in length with a long slim bill. The breeding male of the
nominate subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
is unmistakable, with all blue-grey plumage apart from its darker wings.
[ Females and immatures are much less striking, with dark brown upperparts, and paler brown scaly underparts. The male of the subspecies ''M. s. philippensis'' has rufous-chestnut plumage from the mid-breast down to the undertail.][ Both sexes lack the reddish outer tail feathers of rock thrush.
The male blue rock thrush sings a clear, melodious call that is similar to, but louder than the call of the rock thrush.
]
Distribution and habitat
The European, north African and southeast Asian birds are mainly resident, apart from altitudinal movements. Other Asian populations are more migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa, India and southeast Asia. This bird is a very uncommon visitor to northern and western Europe.
Behaviour
Blue rock thrush breeds in open mountainous areas. It nests in rock cavities and walls, and usually lays 3-5 eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
. An omnivore
An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...
, the blue rock thrush eats a wide variety of insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s and small reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...
s in addition to berries and seeds.[
]
Gallery
File:Monticola solitarius -ground-8.jpg, Male ''M. s. philippensis''
File:isohiodori_fem2.JPG, Female, winter, Yakushima
, native_name_link =
, image_caption = Landsat image of Yakushima
, image_size =
, nickname =
, location = East China Sea
, coordinates =
, map = Japan#Japan Kagoshima Prefecture
, map_relief ...
, Japan
File:Isohiodori-male.jpg, Male, autumn, Wakayama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...
, Japan
File:Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius)- pandoo race- Breeding Male at Jayanti, Duars, West Bengal W IMG 5310.jpg, Breeding male of race ''pandoo'' from northeastern India
File:BlueRockTrush LaCanada.jpg, Male, late winter, Spain
File:Blue Rock Thrush Maharashtra.jpg, Female, late winter, Maharashtra, India
File:BlueRockThrushSideView.jpg, Male in December, near Gumma Nayakana Palya, Karnataka
File:Blue rock thrush (male) at Gamla Nature Reserve.jpg, Male in January, Gamla Nature Reserve, Israel
References
External links
Blue rock thrush videos, photos & sounds
on the Internet Bird Collection
Ageing and sexing by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the blue rock thrush
{{Taxonbar, from=Q152144
blue rock thrush
Chats (birds)
Birds of Eurasia
National symbols of Malta
Birds described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus