Monticola saxatilis
Silhouette: Martin Bulla, based on François Desbordes' illustration · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The common rock thrush (Monticola saxatilis), also known as the rufous-tailed rock thrush or simply rock thrush, is a species of chat that breeds in southern Europe across Central Asia to northern China. This species is strongly migratory, all populations wintering in Africa south of the Sahara. It is an uncommon visitor to northern Europe. Its range has contracted somewhat at the periphery in recent decades due to habitat destruction. For example, in the early 20th century it bred in the Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska (Poland) where none occur today, but it is not considered globally endangered. Wikipedia →
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush sighting in Mercantour National Park on a given day, based on 30 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 54th most-seen of the 79 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, April and June–October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush in Mercantour National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, the lowest month. March and November–January have too few records to rate.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
8th of 26
Of the 26 parks where we can rate Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush sightings, Mercantour National Park ranks 8th at about 10%. The best odds are in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, about 30%), Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 20%) and Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (Spain, about 20%).
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush that you can see in Mercantour National Park (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are Black Redstart (about 50%), Northern Wheatear (about 50%) and Whinchat (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush is recorded against all the birds logged in Mercantour National Park (30 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
