Overview

Bluethroat: Small thrush with brown upperparts, striking blue bib with rust-brown central spot, black and brown-orange bands across breast, thick white eyebrow, and white underparts. Tail is dark with rust-brown base. Rather swift, deliberate direct flight on rapidly beating wings.

Bluethroat: Occurs widely across Europe, Asia and in some parts of North America. Main breeding grounds found in Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, some parts of west and central Europe, to the Himalayas. Migratory species, overwintering in Africa, Europe, mainly Portugal, the United Arab Emirates, and in some parts of Asia. Spends winters mostly on salt marshes, or around the edges of reed beds.

Voice Text

"buyt-tock", "ting-ting-ting"

• As Siberian populations have increased with the recent warming trend, this species has been able to spread across the Bering Strait into Alaska.
• The Bluethroat was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher. It, and similar small European species, are often called chats.
• They were discovered on June 5, 1851 by Edward Adams, a surgeon and naturalist aboard the British ship Enterprise. He was traveling overland from Norton Sound to the Koupac River in northwestern Alaska.
• A group of thrushes are collectively known as a "hermitage" and a "mutation" of thrushes.

• Siberian Rubythroat

Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapidae)

ORDER

The Old World flycatchers are one of the one hundred forty-two families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez); a large taxonomic order that includes bird families such as the nuthatches, swallows, and starlings.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

There are three hundred and fifteen species of Old World flycatchers in forty-eight genera in the Muscicapidae (pronounced musi-KAP-uh-dee), a family mostly found in Eurasia and Africa.

NORTH AMERICA

There are sixteen species of Old World flycatchers in seven genera in the Muscicapidae that have occurred in North America and Hawaii. All but three of these species are vagrants to the region.

KNOWN FOR

The members of this family are known for their cheery, chattering songs and small size. In Europe, the European Robin is one of the most well known, confiding, garden bird species.

PHYSICAL

The Old World flycatchers are small birds with thin, rather short bills. Although the wheatears and a few other species have long wings, most have short wings, medium-length tails, and rather long, strong legs and feet for hopping on the ground.

COLORATION

Members of the Muscicapidae often show different shades of brown, chestnut, gray, white, and black in their plumage. Some species also have patches of red and several have plumages that are predominantly blue.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Members of the Muscicapidae occur in a wide variety of habitats that include tundra, grasslands, marshes, boreal forests, gardens, and tropical forests. The two species that breed in North America are birds of the tundra and willow thickets. A third species that was introduced to Hawaii occurs in gardens. The other North American Muscicapidae species are vagrants from Asia.

MIGRATION

In North America, all members of this family are migratory and spend the winter in Africa and southern Asia.

HABITS

Most Muscicapidae species are solitary birds for most of the year although some species forage with other bird species in mixed flocks. Members of this family glean insects off of vegetation and pick them out of the air in fluttering flight.

CONSERVATION

None of the members of this family that occur in North American are threatened with extinction. Elsewhere, the Black-throated Blue Robin of central and southern China is considered to be vulnerable and has only been seen on a handful of occasions.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Northern Wheatears that breed in tundra habitats of northern North America migrate to sub-Saharan Africa for the winter. The other species that breeds in North America, the Bluethroat, also migrates to ancestral wintering grounds in southern Asia instead of migrating to Mexico and Central America.

Author

Artist

Irina Rud-Volga