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