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 ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...

-like Old World flycatcher was formerly placed in the

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

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 fl ...

. It breeds in southern Europe, northwest Africa, and from

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a 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 the fo ...

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, ...

in 1758 in the

10th edition 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

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 ...

'' 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, bo ...

''Turdus solitarius''. The scientific name is from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...

. ''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, bo ...

''solitarius'' means "solitary".. The rock thrush genus Monticola was formerly placed in the family

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 Northe ...

. 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 specie ...

: * ''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, 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 ...

* ''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, 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 ar ...

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 speci ...

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 nu ...

, 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 pa ...

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 rhynchocephalia ...

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 is one of the Ōsumi Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of 13,178. Access to the island is by hydrofoil ferry (7 or 8 times a day from Kagoshima, depending on the season), slow car ferry (once or twic ...

, 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 The blue rock thrush (''Monticola solitarius'') is a species of chat. This thrush-like Old World flycatcher was formerly placed in the family Turdidae. It breeds in southern Europe, northwest Africa, and from Central Asia to northern China and ...

Chats (birds) Birds of Eurasia National symbols of Malta Birds described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus