Siberian Stonechat hit the lens of a Polesie birdwatcher Andrey Sheuchyk in the floodplain of the Nenach River in the Homiel region of Belarus. Usually it nests near Arkhangelsk and Western Siberia, and winters in India.
“This Stonechat has flown here by accident. But there is a chance that after a break in Polesie the bird will return to Siberia. Some birds also like risky adventures, so they can accidentally find new suitable areas for settlement,” said the director of “APB” Alyaksandr Vincheuski.
The Siberian Stonechat has never been officially detected in Belarus. He was once seen in Lithuania (17 years ago) and twice in Poland.
Belarus still has two types of Stonechats registered: the usual kind — whinchat, and about 16 years ago the country began to be colonized from the south by another stonechat who now regularly nest in the Western Polesie.
Now the pictures of the bird are to be examined and confirmed by the Belarusian Arnita-faunal Commission. Only after its approval the new kind will be brought into the list of birds of Belarus.
