CreatureData

Brown rock chat

Oenanthe fusca (Blyth, 1851)

LCLeast Concernsongbirds

The brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca) is a species in the family Muscicapidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 12.7 g to 13 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca)
Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the brown rock chat

Weight
12.7 g – 13 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
rockysrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3 – 4src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
2.5src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the brown rock chat live?

Not recorded

What is the brown rock chat?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca) or Indian chat is a bird species of the family Muscicapidae. It is found mainly in northern and central India. It is often found in old buildings and rocky areas. It resembles a female Indian robin but lacks the reddish vent and differs in posture and behaviour apart from being larger. In flight it bears some resemblance to thrushes and redstarts. It feeds on insects, captured mainly on the ground. It was formerly placed as the sole species in the genus Cercomela but is now included with the wheatears in the genus Oenanthe.

In central India, the local name of Shama has been noted.

From the Wikipedia article “Brown rock chat” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_rock_chat&oldid=1354972391), 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 brown rock chat endangered?

The brown rock chat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the brown rock chat classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderPasseriformes
  5. familyMuscicapidae
  6. genusOenanthe
  7. SpeciesOenanthe fusca (Blyth, 1851)

Synonyms Cercomela fusca, Cercomela fusca ruinarum, Saxicola fusca

Other names and names in other languages (34)
  • BRCHEnglish
  • Brown rock-chatEnglish
  • Indian chatEnglish
  • Кафяво каменарчеBulgarian
  • còlit bruCatalan
  • skalníček hnědýCzech
  • crec craigWelsh
  • Brunbuget StensmutteDanish
  • BraunschmätzerGerman
  • BraunsteinschmätzerGerman
  • bruna enantoEsperanto
  • Colinegro indioSpanish
  • india kaljutäksEstonian
  • pihataskuFinnish
  • Traquet bistréFrench
  • smeđa bjeloguzaCroatian
  • Codinero indianoItalian
  • チャイロイワビタキJapanese
  • rudasis uolinis šnekutisLithuanian
  • кафеаво камењарчеMacedonian
  • Bruine RotsspekvreterDutch
  • brunskvettNorwegian
  • białorzytka piargowaPolish
  • chasco-indianoPortuguese
  • chasco-castanhoPortuguese
  • Бурая чернохвосткаRussian
  • Бурый скромный чеканRussian
  • skaliarik hnedýSlovak
  • Indijska crnorepkaSerbian
  • brun stenskvättaSwedish
  • Esmer KuyrukkakanTurkish
  • трактрак бурийUkrainian
  • 褐岩䳭Chinese
  • 褐岩鵖Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the brown rock chat

Other species in the same genus Oenanthe.

CompareBrown rock chat vs Northern wheatearBrown rock chat vs Isabelline wheatearBrown rock chat vs Desert wheatearBrown rock chat vs Western black-eared wheatear

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the brown rock chat?

An adult brown rock chat weighs 12.7 g – 13 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the brown rock chat endangered?

The brown rock chat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the brown rock chat?

The brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-rock-chat

MLA

“Brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-rock-chat.

BibTeX
@misc{brown_rock_chat_2026,
  title = {Brown rock chat (Oenanthe fusca)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-rock-chat},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}