BirdTab LogoBirdTab

European Stonechat

Saxicola rubicola

Old World Flycatchers
European Stonechat, photographed by Bene Riobó

Photo: Bene Riobó · Wikimedia · CC-BY-SA 4.0 (licence)

Add to my checklistRange map and sightings on eBird

Call and song

About the European Stonechat

Perky little bird of open country, especially heathland with gorse, moorland, weedy meadows, scrubby marsh margins, and rough grassland with scattered low bushes. Perches atop bushes and on fences, dropping to the ground to feed, before flying back up to a perch. Male distinctive, with blackish head set off by big white patch on sides of neck, orangey breast. Female brownish overall with paler eyebrow (only behind eye, unlike Whinchat), dull orangey breast; shows paler rump in flight, contrasting with solidly blackish tail. Warbled song is short and buzzy. Calls include dry “tchak” and rising “weet.”

Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made

Where it has been recorded

Recorded in 75 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.

More old world flycatchers