Saxicola torquata

Cartaxo (Saxicola torquata), the only bird which is prepared to "pose" for camera. I just liked the elegant simplicity of this shot.



Canon 1D Mk III, 100-400 mm L IS + 1.4 TCII
1/2000s f/8 at 560 mm ISO 400
Hand-held, no processing.

Colin

nice one

Hello Colin,

I think the name torquata isn't the european specie but the african "sub" specie of the stonechat.

I think it should be S. rubicola, or is this another "name-game" between european countries.

What do the other forum members think about this.

Abraco

Joost&Thijs Valkenburg

Joost, estas questões não são consensuais, depende das autoridades.

Por exemplo, o AERC TAC não considera o Saxicola rubicola.

1 abraço,
Gonçalo

Hello Joost & Thijs,

You might well be correct on two counts: that this bird is a rubicola and that we are the subject of a "word game".

I must first of all admit that my knowledge of Stonechat taxonomy is very limited (I not long ago picked up a copy of the Stonechat monograph, browsed through it, and put it down - not my sort of game I'm afraid!).

My understanding was, and is, that S. torquata was the general name (hence my using it for this bird) and that subspecies were designated as, for example, S. torquata rubicola. In other words, in my innocence (or ignorance) I was not identifying this bird at ssp. level.

However, this sort of questioning and discussion is good and it will now spur me on to delving into the literature and internet to find more information.

Best wishes,

Colin

P.S. I was at Castro Marim yesterday and in the scrub around the saltworks at Cerro do Bufo I did find a Siberian Stonechat (Saxicola maura or Saxicola torquata maura, only the second time I have seen this ssp.)

Hello

To be honest for me it is also quite a "grey" area all those subspecies!!! I just noticed it yesterday because i was incerting ringing data and I was afraid i made a mistake, but as long as we now wat whe all calling to whoom i think its ok.!!

Here in holland we call it S. rubicola and in Portugal S. torquata, maybe one day it will be all the same.

Nice the S. maura!! have you got any pictures, I never saw a 100% maura, some possible ones....

Abraço

Joost

Ola gonçalo

O que é AERC TAC ,
e ja agora sabes qual a lista de nomes de especies que é utilizada em Portugal? se sim aonde posso obter a mais actual?

Um abraço
Joost

Thanks for your response Joost, and pleased to hear that you also experience this "grey" area on ssp. such as this.

The S. maura yesterday was spotted by my friend Roger Skan (he had never seen this ssp before but picked it out as an unusual Saxicola) close to the gate of the saltworks. It was showing very well, perched on the top of low bushes and then on the overhead cables, but by the time I had got the camera from the car it had (of course!) disappeared. Not only was the white rump very obvious (we saw it in flight as well as perched) but the overall colour of the bird (a male) was quite dark. I have only ever seen one before and that was at Ria de Alvor.

Kind regards,

Colin