Siberian Stonechat

About the Siberian Stonechat

The Siberian stonechat or Asian stonechat (Saxicola maurus) is a recently validated species of the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae). Like the other thrush-like flycatchers, it was often placed in the Turdidae in the past. It breeds in the East Palearctic including in easternmost Europe and winters in the Old World tropics.

The Siberian stonechat was formally described in 1773 as Muscicapa maura by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas based on a specimen collected at Karassum near the Ishim River in western Siberia. The specific epithet is from Latin maura meaning "African" or "Moorish" (i.e. "black" or "dark"). The Siberian stonechat is now placed in the genus Saxicola that was introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein. The genus name combines the Latin saxum, saxi meaning "stone" with -cola meaning "dweller" from colere meaning "to inhabit".

Six subspecies are recognised: S. m. hemprichii Ehrenberg, CG, 1833 – steppes of lower Volga and mouth of Ural River to eastern Caucasus S. m. variegatus (Gmelin, SG, 1774) – mountains of eastern Turkey to Transcaucasia and Iran

S. m. maurus (Pallas, PS, 1773) – breeds eastern Russia to... Wikipedia →