European Pied Flycatcher
Ficedula hypoleuca
Breeding male is boldly pied, with a big white wing patch and white forehead spot. Female and immature are brown above, with an obvious white wing patch. In areas of overlap, compare with very similar Collared and Semicollared Flycatchers. Breeds in shady, mixed and deciduous woodland, especially with oaks. Uses a range of habitats on migration and on wintering grounds, including forest edge, open woodland, and plantation. Feeds at all levels, sallying after insects in the leafy foliage; at times, perches out on open fences. Song is a cheerful whistled series with an up-and-down quality. Calls include a sharp, bright, somewhat metallic “wit!” and a short “tsee.”
Identification
This is a 12–13.5 centimetres (4.7–5.3 in) long bird. The breeding male is mainly black above and white below, with a large white wing patch, white tail sides and a small forehead patch. The Iberian subspecies iberiae (known as Iberian pied flycatcher) has a larger forehead patch and a pale rump. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles have the black replaced by a pale brown, and may be very difficult to distinguish from other Ficedula flycatchers, particularly the collared flycatcher, with which this species hybridizes to a limited extent.<p>The bill is black, and has the broad but pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores. As well as taking insects in flight, this species hunts caterpillars amongst the oak foliage, and will take berries. It is therefore a much earlier spring migrant than the more aerial spotted flycatcher, and its loud rhythmic and melodious song is characteristic of oak woods in spring.<p>They are birds of deciduous woodlands, parks and gardens, with a preference for oak trees. They build an open nest in a tree hole, and will readily adapt to an open-fronted nest box. 4–10 eggs are laid.<p>The very similar Atlas pied flycatcher, of the mountains of north west Africa was formerly classed as subspecies of the European pied flycatcher.
Taxonomy
The European pied flycatcher is an Old World flycatcher, part of a family of insectivorous songbirds which typically feed by darting after insects. The Latin word ficedula means "small fig-eating bird". The term hypoleuca comes from two Greek roots, hupo, "below", and leukos, "white".<p>The species was described in Linnaeus's Fauna Svecica (1746), a work that was not binomial and that is therefore unavailable nomenclaturally. Later, in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturaeand the next edition of Fauna Svecica (1761), Linnaeus confounded this flycatcher with the Eurasian blackcap and the whinchat. To this point, the European pied flycatcher still lacked a proper valid binominal name. The species was finally named as Motacilla hypoleuca by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764. However, he described this species anonymously in the appendix of a sales catalogue of the collection of Adriaan Vroeg, popularly known simply as the "Adumbratiunculae" among ornithologists. The authorship of the Adumbratiunculae would later be attributed to Pallas. Given the initial anonymity of the publication and the inferred authorship by external evidence, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature advocates that Pallas's name should appear enclosed in square brackets in the species' name. Thus, the correct form of the scientific name of the European pied flycatcher is Ficedula hypoleuca ([Pallas], 1764).<p>Ficedula hypoleuca currently has four recognized subspecies: the nominate F. h. hypoleuca ([Pallas], 1764), F. h. speculigera (Bonaparte, 1850), F. h. iberiae (Witherby, 1928), and F. h. tomensis (Johansen, 1916). The subspecies F. h. muscipeta (Bechstein, 1792) is currently considered synonymous with F. h. hypoleuca, but could represent an actual distinct subspecies. The name F. h. atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1766) is a junior subjective synonym of F. h. hypoleuca; and the name F. h. sibirica Khakhlov, 1915 is invalid, the correct form being F. h. tomensis (Johansen, 1916).
- Scientific name
- Ficedula hypoleuca
- Authority
- (Pallas, 1764)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Ficedula
Range and habitat
The European pied flycatcher has a very large range and population size, and is thus deemed to be of least concern by the IUCN. This species occupies areas of many different countries in Europe and northern Africa, also being present in the west Asian portion of Russia. More specifically, the nominate subspecies F. h. hypoleuca inhabits the UK, central Europe and Scandinavia, F. h. speculigera inhabits Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, F. h. iberiae inhabits in the Iberian Peninsula, and F. h. tomensis in eastern Europe and Russia. The species is noted as a vagrant species in places in other countries in Africa and South Asia, such as Sudan and Afghanistan. This flycatcher typically spends winter in tropical Africa.<p>The European pied flycatcher is a terrestrial bird, typically inhabiting open forests, woodlands, and towns. In 2005, the European population was listed to hold 3–7 million pairs.
- Breeding range
- PAL : c, w
- Non-breeding range
- w AF
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Bird Calls
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