Family Old World Flycatchers and Chats (Muscicapidae)

Near Threatened

Sentinel Rock-thrush (Monticola explorator)

Taxonomy

French: Monticole espion German: Langzehenrötel Spanish: Roquero centinela

Taxonomy:

Turdus explorator

Vieillot

, 1818,

mountains of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa

Darker birds from Lesotho E to S Mozambique described as race tenebriformis, but characters appear inconstant and variation clinal. Monotypic.

Distribution:

E & S South Africa, Lesotho, W Swaziland and extreme S Mozambique.

Descriptive notes

16·5–18 cm. Male has head, mantle to lower back, scapulars and breast greyish-blue, rump and rest of underparts orange-brown, wings slaty with buffy fringes, central... read more

Voice

Song (male) a short series of a standard phrase consisting of bold, lively warble lasting 3 seconds... read more

Habitat

Upland grassland and sheep pasture with scattered rocky outcrops and ridges, stony or boulder-... read more

Food and feeding

Insects, including ants, beetles, moths, caterpillars and pupae, also fruit and seeds; millipedes fed to young. Stomachs of five birds from... read more

Breeding

In South Africa, Oct–Dec in N of range, Sept–Dec in KwaZulu-Natal and Aug–Oct in Western Cape; Sept–Feb in Lesotho... read more

Movements

Some altitudinal movement, with post-breeding descent to lower levels in S; occasionally winters at... read more

Status and conservation

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. Fairly common above 1200 m in South Africa; common above 2500 m in Lesotho, where it thrives in overgrazed... read more

Bibliography

Public comments

Recommended citation

Collar, N. & Sharpe, C.J. (2019). Sentinel Rock-thrush (Monticola explorator). 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/58407 on 25 May 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).