Himalayan rubythroat
| Himalayan rubythroat | |
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| Species: | L. pectoralis
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| Binomial name | |
| Luscinia pectoralis (Gould, 1837)
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The White-tailed Rubythroat or Himalayan Rubythroat (Luscinia pectoralis) is a species of bird in the Muscicapidae family. It is closely related to the Siberian Rubythroat which however lacks the distinctive white tail-tips and white tail bases. It is found along the Himalayan ranges from Afghanistan to Burma. Several subspecies are recognized across its wide range.
Description
The male is slaty brown above with a white forehead and supercilium. The wings are brownish and the tail is blackish with white base and tips. The sides of the throat and breast are black and the centre of the chin and throat is scarlet. The belly and vent are white. The female is dull, brownish grey above with a diffuse supercilium and smoky underparts. The centre of the throat is whitish and a short whitish moustachial stripe is present in the eastern populations.[1]
The subspecies found in Afghanistan bailloni has the male paler than the nominate subspecies of the western Himalayas. In the central and eastern Himlayas confusa, is similar but has the male blacker above with a more prominent white forehead. The Tibetan region is occupied by subspecies tschebaiewi which has a face pattern like that of the Siberian Rubythroat and a strong white submoustachial streak. The thin supercilium over the eyes does not meet at the forehead. Being rather distinctive and possibly closer to the Siberian Rubythroat, the taxonomy and placement of this population and the species have been questioned.[2][3]
Distribution and habitat
It is found in Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, ranging across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The move up north and into higher altitudes in summer and move into lower elevations to the south in winter. Its natural habitat is open woodland and scrub.[2] They may sometimes occur on the lower plains but a record from further south at Londa near Goa has been determined as a misidentification.[4]
Behaviour and ecology
Adults are shy although sometimes perching in the open. They are usually seen singly or in pairs during the breeding season. They feed mainly on small insects including beetles and ants. During the beeding season the male sings through the day from the top of an exposed perch. The song is a series of squeaky notes with a great deal of variation. Females produce an upward inflected whistle that follows a short and gruff note. The alarm call is a sharp yapping skyap.[5][2]
In the Tien Shan region, the White-tailed Rubythroat is found in thickets of Juniper elfin at altitudes of 2500 to 2700 m on gently sloping land. The breeding season is in summer and nests are built in shrubs near dense stands of trees. The nest is placed in the middle of a shrub and sometimes on the ground in a dense tussock. The typical nest is a loose and large ball like with an entrance on the side but is sometimes cup like with an open top. The nest is built mainly by the female. A clutch of 4 to 6 eggs is laid. The eggs are greenish blue with rusty dots forming a ring near the broad end. Incubation is mostly by the female but the nestlings are fed by both parents. The eggs hatch after around 14 days and the young leave the nest when they fledge after about 16 days.[6]The parents forage close to the nest and the young are mainly fed with hairy caterpillars. Rubythroats have been observed to abandon their nest when a cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) laid an egg in their nest. Martens and stoats sometimes destroy nests and prey on the young.[5]
References
- ^ Ali S & S D Ripley (1997). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Vol. 8 (2 ed.). New Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 225–229.
- ^ a b c Rasmussen PC & JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia. Volume 2. Washington DC and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. pp. 391–392.
- ^ Deignan, HG; RA Paynter, Jr;S D Ripley (1964). Mayr E & R A Paynter, Jr (ed.). Check-list of Birds of the World. Volume 10. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. pp. 44–45.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Prasad, Anand (2006). "Himalayan (White-tailed) Rubythroat Luscinia pectoralis at Londa, Karnataka, a deletion" (PDF). Indian Birds. 2 (1): 12.
- ^ a b Gavrilov EI & Kovshar AF (1970). "Breeding biology of the Himalayan Rubythroat, Erithacus pectoralis (Gould) in the Tien Shan". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society,. 67 (1): 14–25.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) - ^ Badyaev, AV & CK Ghalambor (2001). "Evolution of life histories along elevation gradients: Trade-off between parental care and fecundity" (PDF). Ecology. 82 (10): 2948–2960.
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