Male © Daniel Pettersson eBird S77633342 Macaulay Library ML 289140911
Female/immature © Mark Berney
Male © Ryan Schain
Female/immature © Bruce Kerr
Female/immature © Bruce Kerr
+ 3
Juvenile © Jorge Safara
Male © Ray Scally

European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola

Sign in to see your badges

Identification

POWERED BY MERLIN

Perky little bird of open country, especially heathland with gorse, moorland, weedy meadows, scrubby marsh margins, and rough grassland with scattered low bushes. Perches atop bushes and on fences, dropping to the ground to feed, before flying back up to a perch. Male distinctive, with blackish head set off by big white patch on sides of neck, orangey breast. Female brownish overall with paler eyebrow (only behind eye, unlike Whinchat), dull orangey breast; shows paler rump in flight, contrasting with solidly blackish tail. Warbled song is short and buzzy. Calls include dry “tchak” and rising “weet.”

POWERED BY MERLIN