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Alpine Accentor
Prunella collaris
Identify the Alpine Accentor by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Alpine Accentor is a sturdy, lark-sized songbird of high mountains in southern Europe, North Africa and Asia. It has a grey head, a white throat with black spots, a streaked brown back and rufous-streaked flanks. It lives on bare, rocky slopes, often above 2,000 m, and moves down in winter. It has one of the most unusual breeding systems of any songbird.
Did you know?
- Several males and females share mates in its breeding groups.
- It lays unspotted sky-blue eggs.
Voice
About the species
Identification
A large, sturdy accentor: the head and neck are grey, the throat white with black spots, the back brown and streaked, and the flanks warm rufous-streaked. The wings show pale spots on the dark coverts. The sexes look alike. It is clearly larger than Dunnock and grey-and-brown mottled overall.
Family
Prunellidae
Size
Small (sparrow)
Colours
grey, brown, white, orange, black
About the habitat
Open, rocky mountain slopes, scree and alpine meadows with sparse vegetation, usually at high altitudes; in winter lower slopes and villages.
Diet
Mainly insects and other small invertebrates picked from the ground among rocks and low vegetation; seeds in winter.
Behaviour
Forages on the ground in open, stony terrain and is often tame around mountain huts. It breeds in groups in which several males and females share a range and mate with each other; males help feed chicks in nests where they are likely to be fathers. The neat nest is tucked into a rock crevice, holding 3–5 sky-blue eggs.
Sources
Photo: Paco Gómez from Castellón, Spain, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alpine accentor saganta.jpg
Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, CC0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acentor_alpino_(Prunella_collaris).mp3
Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_accentor
