European stonechat are short-distance migrants or non-migratory, with part of the population (particularly from northeastern parts of the range, where winters are colder) moving south to winter further south in Europe and more widely in north Africa. The male's song is high and twittering like a dunnock. Both sexes have a clicking call like stones knocking together. In 2015, John Callion published the results of his 25-year study of the bird in "British Birds. European stonechat The European stonechat ("Saxicola rubicola") is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of
Common sandpiper Common sandpiper The common sandpiper ("Actitis hypoleucos") is a small Palearctic wader. This bird and its American sister species, the spotted sandpiper ("A. macularia"), make up the genus "Actitis". They are parapatric and replace each other geographically; stray birds of either species may settle down with breeders of the other and hybridize. Hybridization has also been reported between the common sandpiper and the green sandpiper, a basal species of the closely related shank genus "Tringa". The common sandpiper was one of the many bird species originally described by Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his "Systema Naturae", where