Red-flanked Bluetail

Tarsiger cyanurusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Thrushes (Turdidae)

General

Red-flanked Bluetail: Small thrush with blue upperparts, head, and tail. Belly and throat are white, flanks are orange-brown, and breast has gray wash. Female and juvenile have olive-brown upperparts, heads, and napes, orange-brown flanks, gray wash on bellies, blue tails and rumps, and white throats and eye-rings.

Range and Habitat

Red-flanked Bluetail: Accidental in western Aleutians and Pribilof Islands; a single record exists from the Farralon Islands off California. Common in Siberia.

Voice Text

"keck-keck", "hueet"

Interesting Facts

The Red-flanked Bluetail was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae.

It, and related species, are often called chats.

A group of thrushes are collectively known as a "hermitage" and a "mutation" of thrushes.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Red-flanked Bluetail

Red-flanked Bluetail: Small thrush with blue upperparts, head, and tail. The belly and throat are white, flanks are orange-brown, and breast has gray wash. Very active bird. Hops on ground while bobbing tail up and down. Forages on ground and in trees for various insects and berries.

● Song: "keck-keck", "hueet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Red-flanked Bluetail: Eats insects and berries; forages on the ground and in trees.

● Breeding & nesting: Red-flanked Bluetail: Five to seven white eggs with brown concentrated at the larger ends are laid in a nest made of grass, roots and moss, lined with soft grass, pine needles, hair, and wool, and built in a stump, log, or on the ground. Incubation ranges from 12 to 15 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Red-flanked Bluetail: None in range.

Flight Pattern

Rather swift direct flight on rapidly beating wings.

Red-flanked Bluetail Breeding Male Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Red-flanked Bluetail: Accidental in western Aleutians and Pribilof Islands; a single record exists from the Farralon Islands off California. Common in Siberia.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationAccidental in North America

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight0.4 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America