Rufous-tailed scrub robin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rufous-tailed scrub robin |
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Cercotrichas
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| Species: |
galactotes
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The rufous-tailed scrub robin (Cercotrichas galactotes) is a medium-sized bird. It belongs to the Muscicapidae family, which includes many types of flycatchers and robins. People also call it the rufous scrub robin or rufous bush robin.
This bird lives and breeds around the Mediterranean Sea and as far east as Pakistan. It also breeds south of the Sahara Desert, from the Sahel area to Somalia. Some people think the African birds might be a different species called the African scrub robin.
The rufous-tailed scrub robin is a bird that travels. It spends its winters in warmer places like Africa (Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia) and India. It is very rare to see this bird in northern Europe.
Its scientific name comes from Ancient Greek. Cercotrichas means "tail thrush," and galactotes means "like milk." This might refer to its whitish belly feathers.
You can find this bird in dry, open areas with lots of bushes. It builds its nest close to the ground. A female usually lays three to five eggs at a time.
This robin is bigger than the European robin. It has brown feathers on its back and whitish feathers underneath. It has a clear white stripe above its eye and a dark stripe through its eye. Its long, reddish-brown tail is often fanned out. When it does this, you can see the black and white tips of its tail feathers.
Both male and female birds look similar. Young birds look like the adults but are a bit paler. These birds mostly eat insects they find on the ground. Their song sounds like a thrush, clear but a little sad.
Contents
What Does the Rufous-Tailed Scrub Robin Look Like?
Adult male and female rufous-tailed scrub robins are about 15 centimeters (6 inches) long. They have long legs and a large, round tail. Their upper feathers are a rich brownish-red. The feathers near their tail are even more reddish.
They have a clear, curved, creamy-white stripe from their nose to behind their eye. There is also a dark brown line through their eye. The area under their eye is whitish. Their eyes and beak are brown, but the bottom part of the beak is grayish.
Their belly feathers are off-white. The chin, middle of the belly, and feathers under the tail are lighter than other parts. Their wing feathers are dark brown. They have buff-colored edges on the front and pale reddish-brown edges on the back. The tips of their secondary wing feathers are white.
The two middle feathers on their tail are bright reddish-brown with thin black tips. The other tail feathers are similar in color but have white tips and wide black bands next to them. Their legs and feet are light brown. Young birds look similar but are usually a lighter sandy-brown color.
The birds change their feathers in the autumn. Before this, the white tips of their tail feathers might become smaller or wear off.
Its Song
The rufous-tailed scrub robin's song is a mix of notes. Sometimes it's clear and loud, other times it's soft. It sings from a high spot, like the top of a tree, a pole, or a wire. People have said its song sounds a bit sad.
Where Does the Rufous-Tailed Scrub Robin Live?
The rufous-tailed scrub robin is a bird that travels part of the year. It breeds in many places, from Portugal and southern Spain, across the Middle East to Iraq, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. In Africa, it breeds from Morocco to Egypt and south of the Sahara Desert, as far east as Somalia. It is very rare to see this bird in northern Europe.
It spends its winters in North Africa and eastwards to India.
Its Home Environment
This bird likes dry, open areas with lots of bushes. It lives in lowlands or foothills. If there are many of them, you might also find them in parks, vineyards, and large gardens.
The rufous-tailed scrub robin lives in a very large area, about 4.3 million square kilometers (1.66 million square miles). There are many of these birds. In Europe alone, there are an estimated 96,000 to 288,000 birds. Since Europe is only a part of its global range, the total number of these birds worldwide could be between 196,000 and 1.15 million.
In 2013, the number of these birds seemed steady. Experts did not think the population was dropping quickly. Because of this, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) listed it as a species of "Least Concern". This means it is not currently in danger of disappearing.
How Does the Rufous-Tailed Scrub Robin Behave?
The rufous-tailed scrub robin often moves quickly among thick bushes. But you can also see it in more open spots, like on trees, the tops of bushes, or on posts. It is often seen hopping on the ground, fanning and bobbing its tail up and down. When it sits on a branch, it also shows off its tail this way. Sometimes it droops its wings a little before flicking them forward.
What Does It Eat?
This bird mainly eats insects it finds on the ground. It looks for beetles, grasshoppers, and the young (larvae) of butterflies and moths. It also eats earthworms. It turns over leaf litter (dead leaves on the ground) to find its food.
Nesting and Reproduction
The male rufous-tailed scrub robin has a special flight display. It swoops downwards with its wings lifted up. It might even sing while doing this display.
The nest is built a few feet off the ground in a bush, a hedge of prickly pear cactus, on a tree stump, or another hidden spot. It is usually well-hidden and looks a bit messy on the outside. It's made of grasses, stems, roots, and other plant fibers. The inside of the nest is neatly shaped like a cup and is lined with fine roots, hairs, and often a piece of snakeskin.
The female lays four to five eggs, but sometimes fewer. The eggs are about 22 by 16 millimeters (0.87 by 0.63 inches). They are pale greenish or grayish-white with many grayish-brown spots.
How Does It Interact with Other Animals?
Sometimes, the rufous-tailed scrub robin is found near a woodchat shrike (Lanius senator). They might even nest in trees close to each other. The woodchat shrike sits high up in a tree, watching for birds that hunt from the air, like sparrowhawks and buzzards. Meanwhile, the scrub robin sits on a bush or lower branch, looking at the ground for predators like snakes, cats, weasels, foxes, genets, and ocellated lizards.
Both birds are good at tricking predators. They fly towards the predator to get its attention, then quickly fly away from their nest through the bushes. This makes the predator follow them instead of finding the nest. The rufous-tailed scrub robin can also understand the warning calls of other bird species and knows how to react to them.
Gallery
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Near Boulmane de Dades, Morocco
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Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
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Illustration by Johann Friedrich Naumann
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Cuculus canorus canorus in a clutch of Cercotrichas galactotes, MHNT
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Young birds in the nest
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Cercotrichas galactotes - MHNT
