Ruby throats
| Ruby throats | ||||||||||||
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Male ruby throat ( Calliope calliope ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Calliope calliope | ||||||||||||
| ( Pallas , 1776) |
The Siberian Rubythroat ( Calliope calliope , Syn. : Luscinia calliope ), sometimes also known as Siberian Siberian Rubythroat or Taigarubinkehlchen called, is a bird art from the family of flycatchers (Muscicapidae). It inhabits the Asian taiga east of the Urals and is relatively closely related to the nightingale , sprout and bluethroat . With these it was previously placed in the same genus Luscinia , which in this form, however, has not proven to be monophyletic . Together with some closely related species, the ruby throat is therefore now in the genus Calliope .
description
Appearance
At 14.5–16 cm, the ruby throat is about the same size as the sprout and nightingale and is also very similar in habit. The simple olive brown of the top continues a little lighter on the chest and flanks and merges there into the creamy white of the belly. The rump is slightly reddish, the shock brown slightly darker. The closed wings show a warm to reddish brown field.
The head drawing of the male is reminiscent of that of the bluethroat. A white stripe over the eyes, which ends just behind the eye, stands out clearly from the black field in front of the eye that runs out onto the cheek, as does the white stripe on the cheeks, which is delimited by a fine line of beard against the eponymous, bright ruby-red throat .
The head markings are much more blurred in females and young birds in the first year. The over-eye stripe is light beige, the cheek stripe is pale beige and the black areas are only dark gray-brown. The bright red of the throat is missing, it is beige to light beige in color. This year also shows pale brown tips on parts of the large plumage of the wings, but they disappear from autumn onwards due to wear and tear.
The dark eye shows a light edge. The beak is dark brown, blackish in males in the breeding dress . The feet are gray to pink-brown, flesh-colored in the young birds.
voice
The song is described as loudly bubbling and shows similarity to that of robins or garden warblers , but comes close to that of nightingales and sprouts in volume. It is not uncommon for imitations of other species to be woven in. It can usually be heard in the morning or in the evening until after dark, but sometimes all night. In mountain regions with cold nights, the male often sings from the early afternoon until dusk.
The contact call is a loud, melodic and drawn out "tjuit", which is usually brought up twice ("tjuit-tjuit" or "ii-lü") and followed by a hard "tack-tack" or "tjock" (similar to the juniper thrush ) follows. The alarm call is often a two-part creak, which is reminiscent of corresponding calls from the nightingale.
behavior
The ruby throat, generally described as being quite shy, moves like the nightingale or the bluethroat hopping over the ground, where it mostly looks for its food. After several hops it pauses for a moment. When excited, the tail is often spread briefly and raised above the level of the back. The singing male changes constantly between several preferred waiting areas in the bush or the lower tree layer, rarely at heights of 3–4 m. The ruby red breast is presented when singing, but if there is any disturbance, the bird immediately drops into cover. In the mountains, the Ruby throat is often less shy and sings there in high, exposed waiting areas. This could be related to the lower frequency of raptors in this habitat.
distribution
The ruby throat inhabits the taiga zone of Siberia from the Urals (on the western side of which are the only European occurrences) to the Kuril Islands and Hokkaidō . In the north, the area boundary follows the edge of the taiga between 59 and 67 °. In the south, the occurrence includes the Small and Large Hinggan Mountains , the Chentii- and Changai Mountains, and the Altai . In western Siberia it is bounded by the taiga and forest steppe border. An island-like occurrence can be found in central China .
hikes
The ruby throat is a migratory bird that overwinters in tropical Asia. The wintering areas range from northeast India and Nepal to the north of Indochina ( Thailand and Myanmar ) and east to southern China, Taiwan and the Philippines . The migration takes place around the beginning and middle of August, the return to the breeding areas occurs between the beginning of May and mid-June.
habitat
The habitat requirements of the ruby throat are similar to those of the nightingale and sprout. It colonizes the low-light, lower shrub layer in young trees, bushes and large shrub thickets in moist locations. The tree layer is hardly important, but it must allow a lush undergrowth.
In the coniferous forests of the Asian low and high mountains or the taiga, the ruby throat mostly inhabits lofts, windthrow areas, stages of decay or richly structured forest edges with lots of undergrowth, brushwood, scrub and corpses as well as tall grass, nettle or herbaceous meadows. It also colonizes poles, e.g. B. with undergrowth from Rhododendron dauricum .
Swampy swamp forests and alluvial forests as well as locations near the water with scrub or wood from willow, birch, bird cherry , buckthorn , quivering aspen or alder are also accepted. Particularly high settlement densities are often reached here.
In the mountains the Rubinkehlchen comes up to a maximum of 3500 m above sea level. M. before. Here it populates the subalpine shrub belt between the tree line and the alpine level. For example, in Hokkaido in the populations of dwarf pines or elsewhere in populations of alpine roses , shrub and dwarf willows .
More unusual habitats are corridors made of dwarf bamboo or stocks of Sakhalin knotweed .
Reproduction
The ruby throat leads a monogamous brood or seasonal marriage. It incubates once a year, there are replacement clutches. The nesting places are occupied as soon as they arrive in the breeding area, even if the males sometimes do not sing in the cold.
The nest is usually built close to the ground at the branching foot of bushes, on grass or moss bulbs, in exceptional cases about 50 cm high on a branch. It is mostly hidden in the vegetation. It is about 90–160 mm wide and 70–120 mm high, spherical structure made of dry grass and other parts of plants. The outer walls are 24–40 mm thick, the interior is barely padded. The entrance hole is relatively high on the side, whereby there are nests with a very large entrance that appear almost cup-shaped, as well as nests with an indicated entrance tube.
The clutch consists of 5, rarely 4–6 eggs, about 21 × 15 mm in size, moderately glossy, blue-green in color (similar to the common redstart ) and in most cases with a very indistinct, light brownish cloudiness or speckles at the blunt end. Clutches are found from the end of May to mid-June, and clutches occur until the end of July. The incubation period is 13 days and the nestling period is 12 days. The young fly out in mid to late July, but fully fledged young were also found in August.
literature
- Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim , KM Bauer : Handbook of the birds of Central Europe. Volume 11 / I: Passeriformes. Part 2: Turdidae - Schmätzer and relatives: Erithacinae. AULA-Verlag 1988, ISBN 3-923527-00-4 , pp. 195-206.
- AA Estafiev: Luscinia calliope in WJM Hagemeijer, MJ Blair: The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds - their distribution and abundance, T & AD Poyser, London 1997, ISBN 0-85661-091-7 , p. 518
- L. Svensson, PJ Grant, K. Mularney, D. Zetterström: Der neue Kosmos-Vogelführer , Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-440-07720-9
Web links
- Singing Ruby throat (video)
- Photos of the ruby throat
- Ringing in the wintering area in the Philippines
- Calliope calliope inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- BirdLife International: Species Factsheet - Siberian Rubythroat ( Calliope calliope ) . Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings for Calliope calliope in the Internet Bird Collection
- Ruby throats ( Calliope calliope ) at Avibase; Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- xeno-canto: sound recordings - Siberian Rubythroat ( Calliope calliope )
- Ruby throat feathers
Individual evidence
- ↑ Song of the Rubin throat, ( audio sample (MP3; 1.4 MB))
- ↑ Contact call of the Rubin throat ( audio sample (MP3; 407 kB))