The
Fuerteventura Chat (Saxicola dacotiae),
or Fuerteventura Stonechat, was formerly known as
the Canary Islands Chat due to its once widespread
distubution on the Canary
Islands
. It is a sedentary resident found only on the
island of Fuerteventura
where it is known as the
Caldereta.
Taxonomy
The Fuerteventura Chat is a small
passerine bird that was
classed as a member of the
thrush
family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an
Old World flycatcher in the
Muscicapidae. It, and similar small
European
species, are often called
chat. It was included in the "Common Stonechat"
(
Saxicola torquata), but it is quite distinct; it is
likely to be an insular derivative of ancestral
European Stonechats that colonised the
islands some 1-2
mya, during the
Early Pleistocene (Wink
et al.
2002).
Description
The chat is intermediate in appearance between the European
Stonechat and the
Whinchat; its body size
and shape reminiscent of a lithe
European
Robin. Its upperparts are generally coloured as the Whinchat,
but more contrasting, dark brown with a blackish head and back
streaks. It has a purer white
supercilium reaching behind the eye and white
neck sides, and a light orangey-chestnut breast becoming duller and
paler on the underside towards the whitish belly. The rump and tail
are dark, the latter with a white pattern visible in flight. There
is also a white wing band. The female is similar to a washed-out
version of the male, with a brown, black-streaked head and no white
neck patches.
The male has a ticking call like a pebble hitting another, and a
high twittering song like a European Stonechat.
Ecology
This species is highly faithful to good
habitat. Its main occurrence and only
breeding habitat is in
barrancos, ravines and rocky slopes
with fairly sparse (30-50% open ground), shrubby vegetation (Illera
et al., 2006). Although they sometimes also venture into
more open and
arid areas such as
malpaís (old
lava flows with resurgent
vegetation), the species prefers copses of
palm trees and shrubs (Álamo Tavío 1975) such as
the aulaga
Launaea
arborescens, the
saltwort
Salsola vermiculata and
the
boxthorn Lycium intricatum (BirdLife
International 2004). Males sing from exposed perches, from where
the birds also like to hunt insects on the wing; occasionally, they
venture into fields or gardens for feeding. Completely open habitat
appears only to be utilised when gathering food for their young
(BirdLife International 2004).
Laying 4-5 eggs per clutch and incubating for 13 days, it usually
manages to raise two clutches of young a year.
Conservation status
This species is now considered
Endangered, as construction, mainly
tourism-related, encroaches upon the best
habitat (Illera
et al., 2006). The population is hard to
estimate, but most probably between 1300 and 1700 mature birds
(BirdLife International 2004), and recognisably in decline.
In
particular, heavy land clearance on the Jandía
peninsula is
isolating the local subpopulation and making it vulnerable to
adverse effects of small
population size.
Desertification, exacerbated by
grazing
goats and locally sinking
water tables, has also contributed to habitat
loss.
Feral cats and
Black Rats prey on the eggs and young. A
conservation action plan has existed for this species since 1999
(BirdLife International 2004). Due to its fairly high
reproductive rate, if enough habitat is
secured and predators are kept at bay, it should be able to hold
its own.
The
Chinijo Chat, subspecies
murielae from the Chinijo Archipelago
near Lanzarote
, became extinct in the early
20th century. Usually claimed as mainly due to deteriorating
habitat quality, the extinction may be more due to the effect of
introduced predators. Strangely, the species was not reported to
inhabit Lanzarote itself .
References
- Álamo Tavío, Manuel (1975): Aves de
Fuerteventura en peligro de extinción. In: Asociación
Canaria para Defensa de la Naturaleza (ed.): Aves y plantas de
Fuerteventura en peligro de extinción: 10-32. Las Palmas de
Gran Canaria. PDF fulltext
- Database entry includes a range map, a brief justification of
why this species is endangered, and the criteria used
- Illera, Juan Carlos; Díaz, Mario &
Nogales, Manuel (2006): Ecological traits influence the current
distribution and range of an island endemic bird. J. Biogeogr.
33(7): 1192–1201. (HTML abstract)
- Wink, M.; Sauer-Gürth, H. & Gwinner, E.
(2002): Evolutionary relationships of stonechats and related
species inferred from mitochondrial-DNA sequences and genomic
fingerprinting. Brit.
Birds 95:
349-355. PDF fulltext
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