White-throated Bushchat Saxicola insignis Scientific name definitions

17 cm. Large stonechat. Male has black head down to cheek and ear-coverts, black back , wings and tail, white chin to hindneck, white rump, large double wing patches , bright chestnut breast patch , white lower underparts; in fresh plumage similar basic pattern but much buffier above, with orange-buff rump, and orange-buff below from lower throat to flank sides and rump; bill and legs black. Female is blackish-brown above, with buffy supercilium, whitish throat and neck side, whitish wing patches, orange-buff breast to flanks and rump, in fresh plumage buffier with dark diamond pattern above, plain buff below and on throat. Juvenile apparently undescribed.

Extreme S Russia (Altai) and W & C Mongolia; non-breeding mainly N India and Nepal. Records from E Kazakhstan doubtful (1 Wassink, A. and Oreel, G.J. (2007). The Birds of Kazakhstan. Published privately, Texel, The Netherlands. Close ).

Song  apparently undocumented. Calls  include metallic “teck-teck”.

VULNERABLE. CMS Appendix II. Global population in range 2500–10,000 mature individuals, and considered declining; a worse-case scenario places global total at below 1000 birds. In recent review, 47 localities mapped, of which only eleven known to involve post-1980 records (although breeding-ground records, of which there are 18, are largely undated but probably recent). Apparently unreported from E Kazakhstan since 1930s. Population in S Russia adjacent to Mongolia border discovered in 1970s, not more than four pairs, possibly now extinct. Fairly large population found in Khangai Mts, in Mongolia, in 1929, and smaller numbers in Mongolian Altay range in 1979; evidence from Khovd province suggests that the species is potentially widespread there. Regular wintering population in India may be as low as 100; may be found to be present in unsurveyed areas in Assam, but species is scarce and irregular in Kaziranga and Manas National Parks. Once considered common in winter in Nepal, but studies in 1998 led to estimation of just 110 wintering birds, majority in Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve. Major threat is apparently rapid and extensive loss and degradation of winter grasslands owing to drainage, conversion to farmland, overgrazing, grass-harvesting, inappropriate grassland management and heavy flooding, the last caused partly by deforestation in catchment areas. Wintering individuals regularly occur in several protected areas, including (in addition to the above-mentioned) Corbett National Park, in India, and Lumbini Crane Sanctuary, Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve and Royal Chitwan National Park, in Nepal. Surveys of the species’ breeding areas are called for, along with better grassland management in winter quarters.