The blue stone thrush is the feathered symbol of Malta. Stonebirds (Monticola saxatilis) External signs of the blue stonebird
The blue stone thrush belongs to the flycatcher family, the passerine order. The species is represented by 5 subspecies, common in Eurasia, North Africa and Sumatra. The blue stonebird is considered to be the national symbol of Malta.
Outward signs of a blue stone thrush
The body size of a blue stone thrush is comparable to that of a starling. The body of birds is about 20 cm long, the wingspan reaches 33-37 cm.The bird weighs 50-70 grams. Females and males differ in the color of the feather cover.
The plumage of the male is monotonous grayish-blue, wings and tail with dark brown feathers. The female and juvenile thrushes are gray-brown with a bluish tinge of the back and transverse stripes of a dark color on the back, chest, sides, and the throat is buffy. The winter plumage of males is rather nondescript.
Far Eastern stone thrushes differ in species variability, they have a reddish-brown undertail and abdomen.
Blue stone thrushes, depending on their habitat, have individual variability and differ in shades of plumage and character of songs.
Hear the voice of the blue stonebird
Spread of blue stone thrushes
In Europe, the stone bluebird is common in Italy, on the Iberian Peninsula, in Malta. In Russia, lives in the east North Caucasus, in the south of Sakhalin Island, in Primorye. The main bird habitat is located no higher than 43 ° north latitude.
Blue stonebird habitats
The blue stone thrush adheres to mountain valleys surrounded by rocks. It lives at an altitude of more than 3 thousand meters above sea level. Prefers rocky sea shores, ruins of buildings, even in human settlements. Inhabits dry mountain steppe and coastal cliffs with niches, cornices, cracks, ledges, covered with sparse grass or bushes.
The stone bluebird chooses nesting sites on rocky slopes along river banks and on rocky bare slopes of hills, not far from the sea coast.
In China, it lives in the interior of the country, mainly in the northeast. Currently, the habitat of the stone bluebird has not changed significantly.
Breeding stone thrush
Blue stone thrushes appear at their permanent nesting sites in late spring. The nesting period lasts from March to April. The nest is built in rock crevices, in cracks, between stones, in small caves. In settlements, people nest under eaves of houses, castles, towers, and churches.
In May or June, the female lays 4-6 eggs of a bluish-greenish color, sometimes covered with brownish-red streaks. Only female incubates for 12-15 days. After 18 days, the chicks fly out of the nest and get food themselves. A pair of blue stonebirds proceed to the second masonry. At the end of the breeding season, the bird pair breaks up and the blackbirds are solitary.
Young blue stonebirds acquire their remarkable plumage color only after 2 or 3 years of existence.
Blue Stonebird Feeding
The blue stone thrush feeds on insects, larvae, berries, snails, and slugs.
Features of the behavior of the blue stonebird
Blue stonebirds keep alone or in pairs on stones, rocks, on the ground. These are rather shy birds. They fly with fast and strong flaps of their wings, and are able to descend on half-spread wings. Birds can be seen quite often near the reservoir. They love to swim and drink a lot. In addition, many insects always fly near the water.
Stone bluebirds usually flail from stone to stone. At times they raise and lower their short tail, jumping on the ground.
Blue stonebird population
The abundance of this bird species throughout its range is not great. On the rocky coast of Primorye, only 1 pair of birds is noted, rarely 2, over a length of 1 kilometer. In some european countries stone bluebirds are quite rare birds due to the loss of convenient nesting sites due to degradation natural environment.
Blue Stonebird Guard
The protection measures in Lazovsky, Sikhote-Alinsky, and Far Eastern reserves are applicable to the blue stonebird. Special events have not been developed. Keeping their habitats intact can increase the number of blue stone thrushes. Internationally, the blue stonebird is recorded in SPES 3, Bonn Convention (Appendix II), Bernese (Appendix II), as a species in need of protection and coordination.
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Systematic position
Class: Birds - Aves.
Detachment: Passeriformes - Passeriformes.
Family: Flycatcher - Muscicapidae.
View: Spotted Rock Thrush - Monticola saxatilis (Linnaeus, 1766)
Status. 2 "Vulnerable" - 2, HC.
Threat category of the global population on the IUCN Red List
Least Concern - Least Concern, LC ver. 3.1 (2001).
Category according to the criteria of the IUCN Red List
The regional population belongs to the Vulnerable category - Vulnerable, VU D1 + 2. R. A. Mnatsekanov, P. A. Tilba.
Belonging to the objects of action of international agreements and conventions ratified by the Russian Federation
Do not belong.
Brief morphological description
The Spotted Rock Thrush is a starling-sized bird. At ♂ the head and back are gray-blue, the uppertail is white, the lower part of the body and tail are red; ♀ monochromatic brown color with a transverse dark pattern.
Spread
Global area: Northwest Africa, Eurasia. In the Russian Federation, it inhabits the Caucasus, Altai, the northern end of Lake Baikal and the Barguzinsky Ridge. ... The regional breeding area is divided into two isolated areas.
One of them covers the high-mountainous areas of the GKH from the Fisht-Oshtenovsky mountain range to the border with the KChR. Another site is located on low-mountain hills in the vicinity of Gelendzhik and Novorossiysk. Sometimes migratory birds were recorded in the Eastern Azov region. In KK - breeding migrant.
Features of biology and ecology
Nesting places of the motley thrush are areas of low-grass high-mountain meadows, alternating with outcrops of rocks, low-mountain open woodlands of the Mediterranean type on gravelly soil, and sea coastal cliffs. Nests are made on the ground or in rocks. Clutch contains 4–6 eggs. Thrushes feed on insects and berries.
Number and trends
In the southern region of the European part of Russia, the number of the species is estimated at 5-15 thousand pairs. In the CC, it is a small species; individual nesting pairs are sparsely found. There is a tendency towards a decrease in the occurrence of birds in the Gelendzhik-Novorossiysk part of the range. The total number of the species, according to expert estimates, does not exceed 20-30 pairs.
Limiting factors
Destruction of nesting habitats in the districts of permanent settlements of birds during the development of Mediterranean landscapes of the Black Sea region.
Necessary and additional security measures
The motley stone thrush is protected in the territories of the KGPBZ. It is necessary to create protected areas (natural monuments) on the Gelendzhik-Novorossiysk part of the range in the nesting places of each pair of birds. Broad propaganda of protection of this endangered species is expedient.
Sources of information. 1. Belik, 2005; 2. Kazakov, Bakhtadze, 1998; 3. Kazakov, Belik, 1971; 4. Oleinikov, Kharchenko, 1964; 5. Ochapovsky, 1967a; 6. Petrov, Kurdova, 1961; 7. Birds of the Soviet Union, 1954b; 8. Stepanyan, 2003; 9. Turov, 1932; 10. IUCN, 2004. Compiled by. P.A.Tilba.
Good for keeping and a group of species belonging to the genus stone thrush - Monticola. There are 3 species in our fauna. These birds exhibit sexual dimorphism in color. The male of the variegated stone thrush (Monticola saxatilis) is quite brightly colored. His head and neck are blue, the back and wings are dark brown, the upper tail is white, the lower part of the 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 rare vegetation.
The behavior of stonebirds is characterized by frequent squats and twitching of the tail.
The song consists of pleasant trills, whistles and knees imitating other birds. A. Brehm writes: "The singing is excellent, rich and varied, loud and full-sounding and at the same time gentle and iridescent; it differs especially in 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, songbird, warbler, lark and steppe lark, quail, ruby-necked, chaffinch, oriole, hazel grouse and even rooster. " At the same time, the knees of the imitated birds sound very elegant in the performance of the variegated stone thrush.
Birds build nests between stones or in cracks in rocks. These are rather loose structures made of plant rags. They are very cleverly hidden, so it is difficult to find them. Clutch consists of 4-6 greenish-blue eggs. Both parents incubate eggs and feed chicks.
At home, stone thrushes are fed in the same way as real ones. Hand fosterlings are becoming very interesting. They are able to reproduce in open-air cages, feed chicks of other species. A. Brehm believes that "they can be safely ranked among the best indoor birds that exist in Europe."
Somewhat inferior to him in singing abilities blue stonebird (Monticola solitarius), however, has a reputation for being a very good singer too. He lives in the mountains of southern Europe, North Africa, Asia to the east to the Pacific Ocean, where it settles along the rocky seashores. Males of Western subspecies are colored in blue colour, and Far Eastern thrushes have a two-color coloration - the upper body, head and neck are blue, and the abdomen and undertail are red-brown. Females, like other stone thrushes, have a rather nondescript dark brown color. They have light rusty-brown spots on their throats.
Bluebirds in Mediterranean countries, and especially in Greece and Malta, are considered the favorite indoor singers. Fosterlings taken from nests by chicks get used to captivity.
However, for domestic hunters, the most favorite among stone thrushes is woodbird (Monticola gularis)... He dwells in the forests of the south Of the Far East and does not often enter the cells of amateurs. He is somewhat smaller than his fellows. Males have blue "cap" and shoulders, as well as outer webs of flight and tail feathers. The throat and the spots on the wings are white. For this, it bears another name - white-chinned thrush... The sides of the head, wings and tail are brown-black. The female's back, wings and tail are brownish-gray, there are transverse dark spots on the back, 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 forest stone thrush inhabits mixed and coniferous forests on the slopes of the hills. It is not numerous, the northern populations are migratory birds.
His song has a set of beautiful whistling sounds. This, as well as its elegant appearance and relatively small size, make the forest stone thrush a desirable pet for many bird collections.
Vladimir Ostapenko. "Birds in your home". Moscow, "Ariadia", 1996
Blue stone thrush
The loud singing of the blue stonebird sounds melodic and melancholy. It is especially noticeable when other birds fall silent in the evenings or during the rain. From time to time, coarser sounds appear in the singing of the blue stone thrush. As a rule, this bird begins to sing while sitting on top of a stone, but it happens that it also sings during a shaving flight with a spread tail, which ends with a dive downward.
Nutrition
The blue stone thrush refers to hunters who wait for their prey. He sits in an elevated place and waits for the prey to come into his field of vision. His food consists mainly of insects and, occasionally, berries, which he picks directly from the ground or pecks from plants. This bird often lives near water bodies, as it drinks a lot and bathes in water every day.
Reproduction
Each pair adheres to the same nesting site all their lives, which can be located in a crevice of a rock or a small cave. The blue stone thrush, which is a migratory bird, settles in it at the end of March and leaves in September. The nest is built from hard materials, but the lining is soft. In May, the female lays four to five blue eggs with red blotches, which hatch for 12-13 days. After birth, the chicks spend about 18 days in the nest, after which they acquire the ability to fly in June. For some time they accompany their parents on their flights, then they begin an independent life. Male plumage, typical for this species, appears only in the second or third year of life.
Notes
Links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
- Monterey Pop Festival
- Monumentum Ancyranum
See what "Blue stonebird" is in other dictionaries:
Blue stone thrush - Monticola solitarius see also 18.15.5. Genus Stone thrush Monticola Blue stone thrush Monticola solitarius The male is completely blue with blackish wings and tail; in birds from the Far East, the belly is red-brown. Females and young ... ... Birds of Russia. Directory
blue stonebird - mėlynasis akmeninis strazdas statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Monticola solitarius angl. blue rock thrush vok. Blaumerle, f rus. blue stonebird, m pranc. monticole merle bleu, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas -…… Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas
Spotted stone thrush - Monticola saxatilis see also 18.15.5. Genus Stonebirds Monticola Blackbird Monticola saxatilis Male with white uppertail, rusty rufous breast and abdomen, females and juvenile rufous; the sides of the tail are red. It nests in the mountains ... ... Birds of Russia. Directory
Stone thrush - (Monticola) genus of songbirds from this. blackbirds (see). They are adjacent to the real thrush (Turdus, Merula) in size, but in the shape of the body and beak they are more like a redstart. Eight D. species live in the rocky mountains of the Old World and ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron
Blackbird - Turdus merula see also 18.15.1. Genus Thrushes Turdus Blackbird Turdus merula Great thrush. The male is completely black with an orange beak and a ring around the eye, the female and juveniles 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 Thrushes Turdus White-throated thrush Turdus torquatus Large thrush (noticeably larger than starling). The male is brown-black with light edges of feathers and a crescent-shaped white spot on the goiter, wings with white ... ... Birds of Russia. Wikipedia reference