The
Réunion stonechat (
Saxicola tectes) is a species of
stonechat in the family Muscicapidae, the
Old World flycatchers. It is found across the French Indian Ocean island of
Réunion in forests, shrublands, and artificial environments such as gardens and plantations. The Réunion stonechat is a member of the
common stonechat superspecies, but it is distinct, together with its closest relative the
Madagascar stonechat, from the rest of that group being insular derivatives of the
African stonechat. The male is black above and white below, with a white
supercilium (sometimes absent), half-collar, covert patch, and a variable-sized orange patch on the breast. Females differ from males in being browner above, more buff-toned below, and often lacking the white greater covert patch. This male Réunion stonechat was photographed in La Roche Écrite, south of the Réunion capital
Saint-Denis.
Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp