Birdwatching - 3171🐦

🦉 The bluethroat (Luscinia svecica)

• Luscinia (lat.) Nightingale
• svecica suecicus (lat.) Swedish; the name svecica, according to the history of the description, is not a toponym, but is given for the color of the male's chest: Olof Rudbeck junior, Swedish botanist and birdwatcher, mentor to Carl Linnaeus, having discovered the bluethroat in 1695 in Lapland, he gave it the name Avis Carolina in honor of the Swedish king Charles XI and the blue-yellow Swedish flag (in those days the yellow color on the flag was more reddish), and K. Linnaeus in 1758, when the absolute power of the monarchy in Sweden was no longer, considered the name svecica more correct than carolina (Jobling, 2010)

This nightingale, about the size of a sparrow, usually hides deep in bushes and thickets, or on the ground. It tries to remain unseen, but in the spring it deviates from this principle and may sing its mating song demonstratively, especially if other males are nearby. The presence of open water near bluethroats is no coincidence. This is due not only to their favorite insect hunting grounds but also to their constant need to bathe.

The blue throat, with a white or rufous spot in the center, is particularly noteworthy. This is a distinctive mark of sorts. Northern and eastern subspecies have a rufous "star," while southern, western, and central Russian males typically have a "white star."