Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

The rufous-tailed scrub robin is a medium-sized member of the family Muscicapidae, a bird of dry open country with bushes and shrubs, larger than the European robin. Adult male and female look alike, about 15 cm long with relatively long legs and a large rounded tail, with a whitish area under the eye and pale brown ear coverts. It breeds around the Mediterranean and east to Pakistan, from Portugal, southern Spain and the Balkan Peninsula through the Middle East to Iraq, Kazakhstan and Pakistan; African birds south of the Sahara are sometimes considered a separate species, the African scrub robin (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is partially migratory, wintering in Africa (Kenya, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia) and India. It feeds on insects mostly caught on the ground, and has a clear, thrush-like song with a sad tone. The nest is built a few feet off the ground with a typical clutch of three to five eggs. SoIB 2023 lists it as a passage migrant of grassland and scrub that eats invertebrates, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).