African stonechat
Saxicola torquatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
The African stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) is a species in the family Muscicapidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 14.1 g to 14.8 g and live up to 8.82 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the African stonechat
- Weight
- 14.1 g – 14.8 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 8.82 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 8.83 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 14.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 5.16src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the African stonechat live?
Not recorded
What is the African stonechat?
The African stonechat or common stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) is a species of the Old World flycatcher family (Muscicapidae), inhabiting sub-Saharan Africa and adjacent regions. Like the other chats, it was long assigned to the thrush family (Turdidae), to which the chats are convergent. Its scientific name refer to its appearance and habitat and means "collared rock-dweller": Saxicola from Latin saxum ("rock") + incola ("one who dwells in a place"), torquatus, Latin for "collared".
In the past S. torquatus usually referred to the entire "common stonechat" superspecies and some sources still keep it that way, but all available evidence strongly supports full species status for the European (S. rubicola) and the Siberian stonechat (S. maurus) of temperate Eurasia, in addition to the island-endemics Fuerteventura chat (S. dacotiae) and Réunion stonechat (S. tectes) which were never unequivocally accepted into S. torquatus. The Madagascar stonechat (S. t. sibilla) has sometimes been considered distinct. In addition, the well-marked populations of the Horn of Africa uplands may well qualify for an additional species.
From the Wikipedia article “African stonechat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_stonechat&oldid=1365941758), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the African stonechat endangered?
The African stonechat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the African stonechat classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyMuscicapidae
- genusSaxicola
- SpeciesSaxicola torquatus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms Motacilla torquata, Muscicapa torquata, Saxicola torquata
Other names and names in other languages (72)
- AFSTEnglish
- Common stonechatEnglish
- Eurasian stonechatEnglish
- StonechatEnglish
- DagbrekertjieAfrikaans
- Gewone BontrokkieAfrikaans
- قليعي مطوقArabic
- ثرثار الصخور الأفريقيArabic
- ثرثار الصخور الشائعArabic
- CagamangoAragonese
- قليعى مطوقEgyptian Arabic
- Qarabaş çəkçəkiAzerbaijani
- Черногушо ливадарчеBulgarian
- Африканско ливадарчеBulgarian
- bitxac africàCatalan
- Африка шим вуян ӱдӹмгекMari
- bramborníček africkýCzech
- Afrikansk BynkefuglDanish
- Afrikansk Sortstrubet BynkefuglDanish
- Sortstrubet bynkefuglDanish
- AfrikaschwarzkehlchenGerman
- Afrikanisches SchwarzkehlchenGerman
- SchwarzkehlchenGerman
- NigragorĝuloEsperanto
- afrika saksikoloEsperanto
- Tarabilla comúnSpanish
- Tarabilla AfricanaSpanish
- kaelustäksEstonian
- Aafrika kaelustäksEstonian
- چک افریقاییPersian
- afrikanpensastaskuFinnish
- Tarier pâtreFrench
- Tarier africainFrench
- Tarier d'AfriqueFrench
- Tarier d’AfriqueFrench
- Traquet pâtreFrench
- Caislín cloch AfracachIrish
- Claghan ny gleigh AffrickaghScottish Gaelic
- crnoglavi batićCroatian
- cigánycsukHungarian
- Չքչքան սևագլուխArmenian
- Սևագլուխ չքչքանArmenian
- Decu BatuIndonesian
- Saltimpalo africanoItalian
- ニシノビタキJapanese
- 아프리카검은딱새Korean
- juodagalvė kiauliukėLithuanian
- Tumšā čakstīteLatvian
- FitadrorangaMalagasy
- ꯑꯐ꯭ꯔꯤꯀꯥꯟ ꯁ꯭ꯇꯣꯟꯆꯦꯠManipuri
- Afrikaanse RoodborsttapuitDutch
- afrikasvartstrupeNorwegian
- kląskawka afrykańskaPolish
- cartaxoPortuguese
- cartaxo-africanoPortuguese
- Черноголовый чеканRussian
- Африканский черноголовый чеканRussian
- Черноголовый африканский чеканRussian
- Черноголовый (африканский) чеканRussian
- pŕhľaviar bielokrkýSlovak
- HlatsinyaneSouthern Sotho
- Afrička travarkaSerbian
- Црноглава траваркаSerbian
- afrikansk buskskvättaSwedish
- Mhozo Kichwa-cheusiSwahili
- Afrika TaşkuşuTurkish
- трав’янка африканськаUkrainian
- трав’янка чорноголоваUkrainian
- IngcapheXhosa
- 非洲石䳭Chinese
- 非洲石鵖Chinese
- isAncaphelaZulu
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List
Relatives of the African stonechat
Other species in the same genus Saxicola.
Whinchat
Saxicola rubetra
Stonechat
Saxicola rubicola
Asian stonechat
Saxicola maurus
Pied bush chat
Saxicola caprata
White-throated bush chat
Saxicola insignis
Jerdon's bush chat
Saxicola jerdoni
CompareAfrican stonechat vs WhinchatAfrican stonechat vs StonechatAfrican stonechat vs Asian stonechatAfrican stonechat vs Pied bush chat
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the African stonechat?
An adult African stonechat weighs 14.1 g – 14.8 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the African stonechat endangered?
The African stonechat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the African stonechat live?
The African stonechat has a recorded lifespan of 8.82 years.
What kind of animal is the African stonechat?
The African stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) belongs to the family Muscicapidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). African stonechat (Saxicola torquatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-stonechat
“African stonechat (Saxicola torquatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-stonechat.
@misc{african_stonechat_2026,
title = {African stonechat (Saxicola torquatus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-stonechat},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}