#passeriform

By Amrou-A, CC BY-SA 4.0 

Etymology: From Iran

First Described By: de Filippi, 1863

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Inopinaves, Telluraves, Australaves, Eufalconimorphae, Psittacopasserae, Passeriformes, Eupasseres, Passeri, Euoscines, Passerides, Core Passerides, Muscicapida, Muscicapoidea, Muscicapidae, Saxicolinae

Status: Extant, Least Concern

Time and Place: Since 10,000 years ago, in the Holocene of the Quaternary 

White-Throated Robins are known from the Middle East in the Summer and Eastern Africa in the Winter 

Physical Description: White-Throated Robins are beautiful passerines that actually kind of resemble American Robins in coloration, though they are not closely related at all and this is simply a case of convergent evolution. They range in size between 15 and 17 centimeters long, with grey backs and short black tails. Their wings tend to end in darker grey wingtips. They have a white stripe over their eyes, with a black side of their faces. As the name would suggest, their throats tend to be white in color. They have short, very pointy beaks and long grey legs. The reasons for their name is the coloration of their bellies - most males are a dark red-orange, and the females are as well, but with brown spotting and more white color on their belly. Some males are more of a yellow color than red-orange, which is fascinating. The juveniles tend to look like the females, but more dull in color.

Diet: White-Throated Robins primarily feed upon invertebrates and fruits, include a variety of beetles and ants, as well as berries. 

By John A. Thompson 

Behavior: These robins will forage among the low twigs on the ground, as well as in  bushes and trees. They usually skulk around, spending most of their time in dense undergrowth and hiding in the thicket in order to avoid danger. They are very faithful to their preferred foraging sites, and will even defend them as their territory during the winter foraging season. They are highly migratory, wintering in eastern Africa - from Eritrea to Tanzania - and then leaving their winter sites by the end of March, passing through Kenya and Ethiopia through to Western Asia & Turkey, though some get as far west as Greece and some as far south as Israel. White-Throated Robins then stay in their breeding sites until the end of August, moving back to Africa by going across the Middle East.

Given this very noticeable migration, White-Throated Robins are extremely social and coordinated, making noticeable sounds to one another based on the situation at hand. Their songs are loud, vigorous warbling for multiple seconds with a variety of pauses and phrases, including flute-like whistling and scratchy chatters. These songs are often made in flight as well. Sometimes, the males of this species will mimic other birds. They also make warbles, hard “tec-tec-tec” calls, and more trilling calls as well. They can be, and usually are, extremely loud.

White-Throated Robins tend to breed in dry, rocky slopes with some bushes provided for cover. They usually lay one brood per season, in a nest made of twigs and plant stalks and lined with feathers, usually made in the shape of a flat cup. They’re placed low to the ground in a tree, bush, or stump, and they often place their nests in the same sites from year to year. They lay between four and six pale green-blue eggs, with brown spotting. The eggs are incubated for two weeks, and the young stay for a little bit longer than a week within the next. They then can flutter around at two weeks of age, and fly fully at three weeks. They stick with the parents for another two weeks, before being fully independent. 

By Westan Mese, CC BY-SA 4.0 

Ecosystem: White-Throated Robins live in scrubland, steppe, stony arid hillsides, semi-desert, and mountainous regions during the breeding season, usually newer juniper and weedy terrain. They will also go to locations with birch and crab apple. In the winter they tend to live in semi-arid scrub and thickets, including acacia woodland and gardens. They don’t tend to reach higher elevations. White-Throated Robins are often preyed upon by lizards, snakes, and Common Magpies. 

Other: Funnily enough, despite being called a robin and being similar in appearance to the American Robin  - which is actually a thrush - White-Throated Robins are actually chats. Because passerine phylogenetics is a mess. They are not threatened with extinction, and there are probably millions of White-Throated Robins alive today.

~ By Meig Dickson

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