Saxicola rubetra
Silhouette: Caroline Legg · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) is a small migratory passerine bird breeding in Europe and western Asia and wintering in central Africa. At one time considered to be in the thrush family, Turdidae, it is now placed in the Old World flycatcher family, Muscicapidae. Both sexes have a strong supercilium, brownish upper parts mottled darker, a pale throat and breast, a pale buff to whitish belly, and a blackish tail with white bases to the outer tail feathers, but in the breeding season, the male has an orange-buff throat and breast.
The whinchat is a solitary species, favouring open grassy country with rough vegetation and scattered small shrubs. It perches in elevated locations ready to pounce on the insects and other small invertebrates that form its diet. The nest is built by the female on the ground in coarse vegetation, with a clutch of four to seven eggs being laid. The hen incubates the eggs for about thirteen days and then both parents feed the nestlings. Fledging takes place about eighteen days after hatching and the parents continue to feed the young for another fortnight. Moulting takes place in late summer before the migration southwards, and again on the wintering grounds in Africa before the migration northwards in spring. The whinchat is a common species with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified it as being of "least concern". Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sincan | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 2 | Bucharest | 🇷🇴 Romania | |
| 3 | Riyadh | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 4 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 5 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 6 | Manama | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | |
| 7 | Tel Aviv | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 8 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 9 | Ramallah | 🇵🇸 Palestine | |
| 10 | Beirut | 🇱🇧 Lebanon |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Whinchat sighting in Riyadh on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 68th most-seen of the 78 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Whinchat in Riyadh on a given day, against under 5% in June to March, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Whinchat sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 39 cities where we can rate Whinchat sightings, Riyadh ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Sincan (Turkey, about 10%) and Bucharest (Romania, about 10%).
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Whinchat that you can see in Riyadh (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are Black Scrub-Robin (about 50%), Isabelline Wheatear (about 10%) and Rufous Bush Chat (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Whinchat is recorded against all the birds logged in Riyadh (6 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
