Siberian accentor

Siberian accentor

The Siberian accentor breeds in northern Russia from the Ural Mountains eastwards across Siberia. It is migratory, wintering in Korea and eastern China, with rare occurrences in western Europe and northwestern North America. The nominate race has brown upperparts and wings, with bright chestnut streaking on its back and a greyish-brown rump and tail.

About Siberian accentor in brief

Summary Siberian accentorThe Siberian accentor breeds in northern Russia from the Ural Mountains eastwards across Siberia. It is migratory, wintering in Korea and eastern China, with rare occurrences in western Europe and northwestern North America. Its typical breeding habitat is subarctic deciduous forests and open coniferous woodland, often close to water. The nest is an open cup in dense shrub or a tree into which the female lays four to six glossy deep blue-green eggs that hatch in about ten days. Adults and chicks feed mainly on insects, typically picked off the ground, but sometimes taken from vegetation. The accentors are a family of small ground-living insectivorous birds, most of which are found in mountainous habitats in Eurasia, although the dunnock is a lowland species. The nominate race has brown upperparts and wings, with bright chestnut streaking on its back and a greyish-brown rump and tail. There are rich chestnut streaks on the sides of the breast and the flanks. The iris is a warm red-brown, the sharply pointed bill is dark and the legs are reddish. Adults undergo a moult between July and September after breeding has finished. Juvenile birds have a partial moult in the same period, replacing the head, body and some wing feathers.

The only species that can potentially be confused with the Siberian accentors is the black-throated accentor, since first-autumn birds of the latter species may have a relatively inconspicable dark throat by the end of the year. The subspecies P. badia is somewhat smaller and darker than the nominate form, with richer upperparts, deeper underparts underparts and deeper rustier flank streaks. The species is evaluated as a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, although, as a northern breeding species, it may be affected by climate change in the long term. October and November 2016 saw an unprecedented influx of this species into western Europe, reaching as far as the United Kingdom. The Siberian accentor is on average 14. 5 centimetres long and weighs 17. 5 grams. The head has a dark brown crown, a long, wide pale yellow supercilium, a blackish patch behind the eye and grey sides to the neck. The underparts are ochre yellow, becoming strongly buff on the flank and greyish on the lower belly.