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Common Rock Thrush

Common Rock Thrush

Monticola saxatilis

Identify the Common Rock Thrush by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Common Rock Thrush is a striking mountain chat that breeds from southern Europe across Central Asia to northern China and winters in sub-Saharan Africa. Summer males are blue-grey on the head with rich orange underparts and a white back patch, while females and young are brown and scaly. Its range has contracted at the edges because of habitat loss.

Did you know?

  • Its scientific name means a “mountain-dweller that frequents rocks”.
  • All populations winter south of the Sahara.

Voice

Sound

About the species

Identification

Length 17–20 cm. The breeding male has a blue-grey head, nape and throat, rusty-orange underparts and a white patch on the back. Females and young are brownish with barring and scaling. The tail is rather short and rufous.

Family

Turdidae

Size

Medium (thrush)

Colours

blue, orange, white, brown

About the habitat

Open, dry, rocky hillsides and mountain slopes, often at high altitudes, with rock cavities for nesting.

Diet

Omnivorous: many kinds of insects such as beetles and grasshoppers, berries and occasionally small lizards.

Behaviour

A strong migrant. It nests in crevices and holes on rocky slopes and walls, usually laying a small clutch. The male sings a clear, melodious song from rocks or in a short song flight.

Sources

Photo: Pierre Dalous, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monsax.jpg

Sound: Thomas SIGNEAU, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roquero_rojo_(Monticola_saxatilis).wav

Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_rock_thrush

See also