Matinan Flycatcher
Eumyias sanfordi
A chunky, drab flycatcher with a heavy hooked bill. Has a gray head with indistinct pale marking around the eye. Warmer olive-brown above with rufous-tinged tail, wings, and rump; underparts pale gray. Juvenile grayish with bold speckling on the chest. Inhabits understory of montane forest. Restricted to northern Sulawesi. Lacks the white belly of female Blue-and-white Flycatcher and the yellow belly of Sulphur-bellied Whistler. Short, melodious song is a burst of jumbled warbling notes that regularly rises and falls in pitch.
Identification
The Matinan blue flycatcher is an unobtrusive small bird with an adult length of about 14.5 cm (5.7 in). The head and upperparts are greyish-brown, greyer on the crown of the head, darker on the side of the head and on the wings, and more olivaceous on the rump and tail. The underparts are pale brownish-grey and the area round the vent is yellowish buff. The large eye is black and the bill, which has a broad base and fine tip, is pinkish-buff and surrounded by short bristles.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Eumyias sanfordi
- Authority
- (Stresemann, 1931)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Eumyias
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Matinan blue flycatcher often joins other flycatchers in small flocks in the lower part of the forest canopy, and its behaviour and distribution is similar to that of the blue-fronted blue flycatcher (Cyornis hoevelli). It feeds on small insects which it catches by swooping from a perch where it has been keenly surveying its surroundings while twisting its head from side to side. It has been observed nesting in a cavity in a dead tree in a disturbed habitat which may indicate that it is capable of tolerating some destruction of the primary forest.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Pied Water-Tyrant
Fluvicola pica
Striking flycatcher found in open marshes in northern South America. White body and face with mostly black upperparts. Bold white V on back, thicker on male. Sexes similar, females have browner back. Found singly or in pairs, usually perched close to the ground where they flit around searching for insects. No range overlap with other similar water-tyrants.
Pel's Fishing-Owl
Scotopelia peli
A giant, round-headed, ginger-rufous owl covered by dusky bars, spots, and chevrons. Quite shy; day-roosts are well-hidden in huge trees along permanent rivers and forested swamps with sluggish backwaters. The call is a deep, low, horn-like “Ooom”; also produces a series of grunts. Young birds sometimes emit an eerie screeching: “wheeeuuu”. Similar Rufous Fishing-Owl is smaller and brighter; it lacks bars and chevrons on the underparts. Vermiculated Fishing-Owl has a heavily-streaked upper breast and a pale-yellow (not black) beak.
Green-backed Tit
Parus monticolus
Colorful small songbird of foothill and montane forests (up to 2800 m). Similar to Japanese Tit in appearance but with a bright yellow belly, greenish back, and two narrow white wingbars rather than one broad one. Forages at middle and upper levels in forests, often in pairs or as part of mixed-species flocks. Song a series of 3-4 whistles. Calls infrequently, a gruff “deedeedee.”
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