Observations on a presumed bilateral gynandromorph Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros paired with a male

A supposed bilateral gynandromorph Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros in northwestern Switzerland formed a pair with a phenotypically classical male, but apparently was not breeding. The bird was documented before and after moult, when all replaced feathers were again of the same sex type. It was also recorded singing, the song being typical for the species. This is the second recorded case of a bilateral gynandromorph Black Redstart, one of only a handful cases where wild bilateral gynandromorph birds have been observed throughout the breeding season, and the first unequivocal documentation of a presumed bilateral gynandromorph bird forming a stable pair with a typical male.

Complementarity of Nesting Ornithocomplexes in Urban Faunae (through the example of Melitopol, Southern Ukraine)

The results of the study of birds nesting in Melitopol conducted in 2011-2019 are presented. The distribution and correlation of bird species in urban biotopes based on a raster map with squares of 1x1 km is provided. There are 170 bird species registered in the city throughout the year, including 104 nesting species; over the last 50 years their number has increased by 69 species. Nesting ornithocomplex of the areas of the city with multi-storey buildings include 16 species, areas with individual buildings – 23 species, industrial sites - 21 species, green areas - 51 species, reed thickets - 27 species, agricultural landscapes - 24 species, floodplains - 9 species, floodplain meadows - 9 species. Over the last decades, birds of Corvidae family - Garrulus glandarius, Pica pica, Corvus monedula, C. frugilegus, C. cornix, C. corax - have inhabited the city and formed urbanized populations. Of the birds of prey - Falco tinnunculus and Athene noctua. The taxonomic and ecological structure of ornithocomplexes of the city is considered. The basis of ornithocomplexes are widespread species of synthantropes and dendrophylles. Introduced species (Phasianus colchicus) and invasive species (Streptopelia decaocto, Dendrocopos syriacus, D. minor, Phoenicurus ochruros, etc.) also inhabited the city. Representatives of the dendrophylic group predominate in the ecological structure of onitocomplexes of the studied area, which includes 47 species (45.2%), lymphophyllous group is represented by 26 species (25.0%), sclerophyllous – by 14 species (13.5%), campophyllous – by 9 species (8.7%), the limnophyllous-dendrophyllous group is represented by 1 species (0.9%), dendrophyllous-sclerophyllous – by 6 species (5.8%) and limnophyllous-sclerophyllous – by 1 species (0.9%). Complementarity of urban ornithocomplexes is high due to the syntantropic species - dendrophylles and sclerophylles.

A new subspecies of the black redstart – Phoenicurus ochruros murinus subsp. nov. from the Altai-Sayan Mountainous Country and the current breeding range of the black redstart

On the basis of literature and collection materials, as well as photographs with geo-referencing from various sources, the actual breeding range of the Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros (Gmelin, 1774) was compiled. For the Asian part of the range, a probabilistic model is constructed for the geographic distribution of the species by the maximum entropy method, which is used to refine the range in some of its regions. Based on the collection materials of the Zoological Museum of the Moscow State University (Moscow), Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg) and Institute of Zoology of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty), a comparison of the breeding plumages of adult male Black Redstarts from the Asian part of the range was carried out. The revealed differences made it possible to describe a new subspecies from Altai, Tuva, Northern China and Western Mongolia – Phoenicurus ochruros murinus Fedorenko subsp. nov., which is distinguished from the neighboring Turkestan subspecies Ph. o. phoenicuroides by the absence of any contrast in the colour of the head, nape and back; all of which are concolourous dark grey. From Latin, the subspecies name “murinus” is translated as “mouse grey”, which characterises the colour of the upperparts of the bird. A revision of other subspecies of the Asian Black Redstart group was carried out and a map of their distribution was compiled.