Bluethroat Luscinia svecica Scientific name definitions

The spectacular markings of the male Bluethroat make sighting this songbird of Alaskan tundra and dwarf-shrub meadows a memorable experience. The species is also an accomplished mimic, having been recorded mimicking more than 50 species of birds and other sounds across its range. Despite the male's conspicuous coloration, this small thrush, or chat, as known in the Old World, tends to be secretive and hard to see, often skulking wrenlike through thick vegetation, and easily visible only while performing its flight displays or singing from an exposed perch. When seen in the open, the Bluethroat often jerks or holds its tail up and quickly fans it open to flash the rufous patches at the base.

This bird occurs widely across Europe and Asia, but is restricted to northern and western Alaska and the Yukon Territory in North America, where it has received little attention to date. The first reported sighting in Alaska was in 1851 near St. Michael in the Norton Sound (Adams 1878 Adams, E. (1878). Notes on the birds of Michalaski (Saint Michael), Norton Sound. Ibis 1878:420-442. Close ). The first evidence of breeding (a female carrying food) was not observed until 1899 (Grinnell 1900a Grinnell, J. (1900a). Birds of the Kotzebue Sound region, Alaska. Pacific Coast Avifauna 1. Close ), and the first nest was not found until 1928 (Bailey 1948 Bailey, A. M. (1948). Birds of Arctic Alaska. Colorado Museum of Natural History, Popular Series 8. Close ). While much is known about the Bluethroat in Europe, within Alaska it is practically unstudied; its range in Alaska is not well known, and breeding activity has been recorded in relatively few locations. The most intensive study of this species in Alaska was conducted at Cape Romanzof on the Bering Sea coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta (McCaffery 2001 McCaffery, B. J. (2001). Results of the avifaunal inventory, 1996, 1997, and 2000, Cape Romanzof Long Range Radar Site, Alaska. Bethel, Alaska: Prepared for U.S. Air Force, 611th Air Support Group, Civil Engineer Squadron/Environmental Flight, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service report. Close ). An excellent reference for European populations and the species in general throughout its range is Cramp 1988 Cramp, S., Editor (1988). The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 5: Tyrant Flycatchers to Thrushes. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom. Close ; the reader is directed to that source for detailed information on other populations when data are not presented here.