| Bluethroat | |
|---|---|
 male (left) and female (right) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Muscicapidae |
| Genus: | Luscinia |
| Species: | Luscinia svecica |
The Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) is a small songbird in the family Muscicapidae. It is featured as the mascot of the current Birds Wiki logo.
Taxonomy[]
The genus name Luscinia is Latin for nightingale and the specific epithet svecica is from Neo-Latin "Suecicus" meaning Swedish, referring to the male's breast color alluding to the shade of yellow in the Swedish flag, which was more orange hued, during the 17th and 18th centuries, when the species was described.
Subspecies[]
- L. s. svecica
- L. s. namnetum
- L. s. cyanecula
- L. s. volgae
- L. s. magna
- L. s. pallidogularis
- L. s. abbotti
- L. s. saturatior
- L. s. kobdensis
- L. s. przevalskii
Description[]
This distinctive nightingale is superficially similar to the European Robin. It is about 14 cm long and weighs about 20 g. It is brown above and whitish below, with a whitish supercilium and a chestnut tail with a black tip, with the 2 central tail feathers being brown of the same hue as the upperparts. The species is sexually dimorphic, with the adult male showing a blue throat and chest bordered below with bands of black, white and chestnut. The female and the immature have a dark chest band instead. Newly fledged juveniles are freckled and spotted dark brown. Bluethroats may have a central throat spot, the colour and size of which varies depending on the subspecies. In most subspecies, it is chestnut; in others, white.
Voice[]
The Bluethroat has a progressively accelerating song, with flute-like notes mixed with imitations of other birds. Its call is typical chat chack noise.
Behaviour[]
The Bluethroat is a mostly solitary mid-to-long-range migrant of elusive habits. The male is most easily spotted singing from a perch.
Feeding[]
Its diet includes insects, often caught in flight, as well as berries and larvae.
Breeding[]
Nesting occurs from April to August. The Bluethroat lays one or two clutches of 4-7 olive-green eggs each year, incubating them for about two weeks. It takes a similar amount of time for the young to fledge. Postbreeding molt starts in July and is completed in around one and a half month, before the birds migrate.
Distribution and habitat[]
The Bluethroat breeds in open woodlands, fields, tundras and bushlands, usually nesting near water. The subspecies with the red throat spot breed from Scandinavia across Siberia all the way to northwestern Alaska and winter in India and southeastern Asia, whereas the subspecies with the white throat spot, rarer and more localized, breed in central and southern Europe and winter in the African savanna. In southern Europe, the Bluethroat is confined to mountainous areas and is more common as a wintering species than as a breeder, though, lately, the breeding population in the Alps and Carpathians has been growing.
In Culture[]
The Bluethroat is regarded as the avian symbol of the Finnish region of Lapland and the historical Swedish province of Lapland.
Gallery[]
