About Saxicola maurus (Pallas, 1773)
The Siberian stonechat (Saxicola maurus) resembles its close relative, the European stonechat (S. rubicola), but is typically darker on the upper body and paler on the lower body. It has a white rump, whiter underparts, and less orange on the breast. Breeding-plumage males have black upperparts and head (lacking the brownish tones found on the European stonechat), a prominent white collar, a white scapular patch, a white rump, and a small restricted area of orange on the throat. Females have pale brown upperparts and head, white patches on the neck (not a full collar), and a pale, unstreaked pinkish-yellow rump. Winter-plumage males have appearance intermediate between breeding males and females, and their supercilium resembles that of the whinchat (S. rubetra); they can be distinguished from whinchats and females by their full white collar. When viewed at close range, the primary remiges of this species are distinctly longer than those of S. rubicola. This trait is also shared with the whinchat; both S. maurus and the whinchat are adapted for long-distance migration. The male has a clicking call that sounds like two pebbles knocked together. Its song is high and twittering, similar to that of the dunnock (Prunella modularis), an unrelated passeridan songbird in the Passeroidea. There are five or six subspecies of Saxicola maurus. The nominate subspecies is S. m. maurus, which matches the description above, and the distinct but similar S. m. stejnegeri occurs across northern and central Asia. Southern subspecies S. m. variegatus (west of the Caspian Sea), S. m. armenicus (ranging from eastern Turkey to Iran), S. m. indicus (found in the Himalaya), and the Turkestan stonechat S. m. przewalskii (found in southwest China) are distinguished by larger white areas in their plumage. In the past, S. maurus was usually included within S. torquatus as part of the "common stonechat", but the scientific name S. torquatus is now restricted to the African stonechat. Analysis of mtDNA cytochrome b sequences and nDNA microsatellite fingerprinting data – while not fully conclusive – together with evidence from morphology, behaviour, and biogeography, supports the recognition of S. maurus as a distinct species. The European stonechat is its western sister species in the Eurasian stonechat lineage. The ancestors of the two species split during the Late Pliocene or Early Pleistocene, roughly 1.5 to 2.5 million years ago at the start of the Quaternary glaciation. The breeding range of the Siberian stonechat covers most of temperate Asia, from approximately 71°N in Siberia south to the Himalaya and southwest China, and west to eastern Turkey and the Caspian Sea region. It also breeds in the far northeast of Europe, mainly in Russia, and occasionally occurs as far west as Finland. This migratory species winters from southern Japan south to Thailand and India, and west to northeast Africa. During migration, small numbers reach as far west as western Europe, and exceptionally have been found as far east as Alaska in North America.
