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| Breeding region in brown and winter migrant in green |
News of a rarest of the unseen before bird popped out in Bukit Mertajam Penang; set the mood of an early morning trip to catch the Bluethroat. This bird is not listed for Peninsula in my Bird Bible- Robson. It is only listed as a winter visitor from Artic tundra regions of Europe and Asia to Indochina stopping furthest in Central Thailand (See Map). Though it a common bird in the Northern Asia region it is not been recorded in peninsula Malaysia as far as I know.
It is described as an old world flycatcher but acts like a robin which it like to cock & spread its dark tipped tail.
The male Bluethroat is very striking with its blue and rufous throat and its flashing reddish tail. However, it normally is very secretive and hard to see as it skulks through thick vegetation. It is easy to see only while it is singing or performing flight displays. When seen in the open, it often jerks or holds its tail up and quickly fans it open to flash the rufous patches at the base. The female is more subtle plain brown colors with white throat a dark malar and gorget.
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| Angrybird look |
Bluethroat is a bird of open meadown openfield wetlands and raw suburb bushland in the case of our encounter. It normally a secretive bird and hard to see as it skulks through thick vegetation. Only way was to lure it out with feed. It is easy to see only while it is singing or performing flight displays. When seen in the open, it often jerks or holds its tail up and quickly fans it open to flash the rufous patches at the base.
As a record the female was also sighted in the same locale. Later it was also reported a yellow breasted bunting was also seen there.
