• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Reunion Stonechat - BirdForum Opus

Page Discussion
View source History
Saxicola tectes
Male
Photo © by Dave Clark
Mafat Cirque, Reunion Island, Mascarene Islands, Africa, May, 2019

Identification

12.5 cm. A very variable Chat, resembling Canary Islands Stonechat in all plumages.

Male

  • Head either all black or with white supercilium
  • Rufous-orange on breast, amount highly variable
  • White rest of underparts
  • Dark brown to black upperparts, white patches in wing
  • Some males resemble females, even during breeding season

Females

Juveniles are heavily mottled below.

Distribution

Endemic to Réunion.
A common restricted-range species.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species.
It's sometimes considered conspecific with African Stonechat.

Habitat

Open mountain bushlands and clearings. Commonest in tamarind and mixed evergreen forest with open meadows and clearings.
Occurs above 800 to 900 m in the north and northeast of the island, above 300 m in the south, commonest above 1200 m.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on small invertebrates like caterpillars and other larvae. Also seen taking a small gecko and fruits.
Forages by hawking insects from rocks, low branches or heath bushes, taking its prey from the ground.

Breeding

Breeding season from mid-October to late January. The nest is made of mosses, leaves, stems and animal hair. It's placed on the ground, in tuft of vegetation or on a vegetated bank, also 1 to 2 m above the ground on a low bough or in a crevice in a trunk. Lays 2 to 3 eggs.

Movements

Occasionally seen at lower altitudes outside breeding season.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Collar, N. (2020). Reunion Stonechat (Saxicola tectes), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.reusto1.01

Recommended Citation

External Links

Retrieved from ‘https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/index.php?title=Reunion_Stonechat&oldid=247057’
Back
Top