Blue-capped rock thrush

Blue-capped rock thrush
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Genus:	Monticola
Species:	M. cinclorhynchus
Binomial name
Monticola cinclorhynchus (Vigors, 1832)

The blue-capped rock thrush (Monticola cinclorhynchus) is a species of chat.

Description

The male has a blue head, chin and throat. The upper parts are blue and black. The rump and underparts are chestnut brown. There is a white patch on the wing that is visible during flight. The female bird is brown with a brown and white underside.^[2]

Distribution and Breeding

This thrush-like Old World flycatcher breeds in the foothills of the Himalayas and winters in the hill forests of southern India. During winter it is found throughout Pakistan, parts of Myanmar and India, especially in the Western Ghats region.

Habits

Like thrushes, they fly up into trees and sit motionless when they are disturbed.

It is a summer visitor in parts of Afghanistan and along the Himalayas from Pakistan to Arunachal Pradesh. In summer it is found in pine forests and hill slopes. In winter it is found in dense canopied forests.

Molem, Goa, India Nov 1997

^[3]

References

An individual at the Old Magazine House in Ganeshgudi, Dandeli

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Monticola cinclorhynchus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. Ali, Salim (1996). The Book of Indian Birds. India: Oxford University Press. p. 284.
3. Rasmussen, P and Anderton, J. C. (2005) Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vols 1 and 2. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions