Family Old World Flycatchers and Chats (Muscicapidae)

Least Concern

Orange-flanked Bush-robin (Tarsiger cyanurus)

Taxonomy

French: Robin à flancs roux German: Blauschwanz Spanish: Ruiseñor coliazul

Other common names: Red-flanked Bluetail, Siberian Bluetail

Taxonomy:

Motacilla Cyanurus

Pallas

, 1773,

Yenisey, Russia

Until recently considered conspecific with T. rufilatus (which see). Proposed race pacificus not accepted. Monotypic.

Distribution:

EC & NE Finland and NW Russia (including C Kola Peninsula), and from Ural Mts E to N Sea of Okhotsk, Kamchatka, S to Altai (including NE Kazakhstan), N Mongolia, N & C Japan, NE China and N Korea; non-breeding S Japan, S Korea, E & SE China (mainly S of R Yangtze), Taiwan, Hainan and N SE Asia.

Descriptive notes

13–14 cm; 10–18 g. Male is deep blue above, with brighter blue crown-side, shoulder, rump and tail base, narrow whitish supercilium; white chin to vent,... read more

Voice

Song, by male from near top of bush or low branch, throughout day in early breeding season, also in... read more

Habitat

Breeds in Siberia in taiga forest, with preference for old-growth mossy moist spruce (Picea... read more

Food and feeding

Little studied. Invertebrates, mainly insects; also fruits and seeds when not breeding. Stomachs of Russian breeders held beetles and their... read more

Breeding

Season May–Aug in most of range, end Jun to mid Aug in N Korea; at least occasionally double-brooded, apparently regularly so in... read more

Movements

Migratory in most of range; in C & S Japan some merely undertake altitudinal movements to... read more

Status and conservation

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Common in much of range, e.g. common breeder in Kuriles and N Japan (Hokkaido), rarer farther S. Common to abundant autumn migrant at... read more

Bibliography

Public comments

Recommended citation

Collar, N., de Juana, E. & Christie, D.A. (2019). Orange-flanked Bush-robin (Tarsiger cyanurus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/58468 on 16 December 2019).

Scientific classification

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Muscicapidae

— Show family text —

In past, traditionally treated as an outsize family that also included expanded versions of Sylviidae, Timaliidae and Turdidae; these three were subsequently split off as three separate families, but still in much expanded form as compared to their current treatment. Since publication of HBW, limits of all these families have been dramatically rewritten due to a barrage of occasionally contradictory molecular data. Within present family problems remain, particularly due to incomplete taxon sampling, but near-complete screening to species level has now been attempted for at least a handful of genera (notably Oenanthe and Saxicola), and large elements of consensus have emerged, among them the recognition of four principal lineages, here treated as subfamilies. Most notable development involves transfer of many genera from Turdidae to present family, including Alethe, Cichladusa, Heteroxenicus, Brachypteryx, Heinrichia, Myophonus, Monticola, Thamnolaea, Myrmecocichla, Pogonocichla, Swynnertonia, Stiphrornis, Sheppardia, Cossypha, Xenocopsychus, Irania, Luscinia, Erithacus, Tarsiger, Cercotrichas, Copsychus, Phoenicurus, Saxicola and Oenanthe. Genetic sampling has also revealed extensive paraphyly, with the result that many species have switched genera. Some genera have disappeared completely into synonymy (e.g. Erythropygia), and others have shrunk to just one or two species (e.g. Luscinia), while a few have become substantially larger (e.g. Cercotrichas, Oenanthe).