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Monticola
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Sentinel Rock-Thrush Monticola explorator Scientific name definitions

Nigel Collar and Christopher J. Sharpe
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 17, 2018

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

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 tail and tail tips dark brown, outer tail orange. Female is medium to palish brown, with darker, pale-fringed wings, ragged broad buff chin/throat and submoustachial radiating out in irregular weakening breast streaks and brown mottling, latter extending to flanks; rest of underparts pale buffy-orange; tail duller than male’s. Juvenile is like female but lightly spotted above, with broader buff margins of wing feathers, dark brown scaling below; first-year male like dull adult, with buffish-red flecking on more grey-blue upperparts.

Systematics History

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

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

Subspecies

SUBSPECIES

Monticola explorator explorator Scientific name definitions

Distribution

eastern and southern South Africa (south to southwestern Western Cape)
SUBSPECIES

Monticola explorator tenebriformis Scientific name definitions

Distribution

Swaziland (Lebombo Mts.); winters north to s Mozambique

Distribution

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

Habitat

Upland grassland and sheep pasture with scattered rocky outcrops and ridges, stony or boulder-strewn grassy mountainsides, generally at higher altitudes (up to 3200 m in Lesotho, above 2000 m in NE), mountain fynbos, and occasionally around human settlements, especially at high altitudes; mine dumps in one area. In non-breeding season may occur in recently burnt veld, unwooded grassland, and cleared plantations; also locally lower in austral winter, down to 600 m and a few near sea-level in S.

Movement

Some altitudinal movement, with post-breeding descent to lower levels in S; occasionally winters at coast in KwaZulu-Natal, and regularly Jun–Aug in S Mozambique (Lebombo Mts), although little evidence that this movement is regular or involves large numbers of individuals. Populations in Lesotho and Drakensberg mainly resident, but move to lower altitudes in extreme winters.

Diet and Foraging

Insects, including ants, beetles, moths, caterpillars and pupae, also fruit and seeds; millipedes fed to young. Stomachs of five birds from throughout year, Free State (South Africa), held eight items: six beetles, one orthopteran and one millipede. Forages by hopping and bounding among grass tufts and rocks.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song (male) a short series of a standard phrase consisting of bold, lively warble lasting 3 seconds, with intervals of 6 seconds or more, warble composed of up to c. 12 varied whistles and chattering trills, “worr, chilli-chilli, worr, triio, triio, worr”; female often interpolates a short descending trill during male’s song. Call in alarm a soft chattering “i-i-i-ii-ii-ii-i”; other calls include dull clucking at dawn and often followed by rasping, grating “tjerr-tjerr-tjerr” repeated 5–8 times, followed by “eeeyou” 2–5 times or a “cheeur” note.

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; sometimes double-brooded. Nest a truncated cone, large and untidy, with foundation of grass, twigs and roots, walls of grass, moss and lichen, lining of fine grasses and rootlets, placed on ground in tight overhung crevice under rock slab, less often under dense vegetation (such as grass tuft) without rock cover; sites often reused in subsequent years. Eggs 2–4, usually 3, sky-blue or greenish-blue, occasionally with reddish-brown spots; incubation period 13–15 days; nestling period 16–18 days.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife NT Near Threatened

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 areas. In optimum habitat, density reaches 1 pair/500 m, or 3–12 birds/km². Analysis of data from consecutive Southern African Bird Atlas Projects suggests that reporting rate has declined by 34·4%, and range has contracted by 48·7% between 1987–1992 and 2007–2014 BirdLife International (2018) Species factsheet: Monticola explorator. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 17/01/2018. . It was therefore listed as Near Threatened in 2017.

Distribution of the Sentinel Rock-Thrush - Range Map
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Distribution of the Sentinel Rock-Thrush

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Recommended Citation

Collar, N. and C. J. Sharpe (2020). Sentinel Rock-Thrush (Monticola explorator), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.serthr1.01
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