Taiga Flycatcher
Ficedula albicilla
Small brown flycatcher with a sharply contrasting black-and-white tail. Breeding male has an orange throat patch surrounded by a faint gray wash. Non-breeding male has darker flanks and far less orange on the throat. Female is cold brown above and dirty-white below. Red-breasted Flycatcher can be very similar; in Taiga, note restricted orange patch and gray throat wash in breeding male and overall colder coloration and darker bill. Voice also differs: Taiga has a more complex song comprised of whistles and trills, and a dry trill, faster than that of Red-breasted. Breeds in forested areas, favoring coniferous and mixed deciduous tracts with clearings and waterways. Winters in various wooded or shrubby habitats.
Identification
The taiga flycatcher or red-throated flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla) is a migratory bird in the family Muscicapidae. The species was first described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1811. The female has brown upper parts with a blackish tail flanked by white. The breast is buffish with underparts mostly white. The male has ear coverts and sides of the neck blue-tinged grey with breeding males having orange-red coloration on the throats. Unlike the taiga flycatcher, the female of the similar red-breasted flycatcher has a brown tail while the red colour in breeding males extends to the breast in the red-breasted flycatcher. It breeds in northern Eurasia from eastern Russia to Siberia and Mongolia. It is a winter visitor to South and South-east Asia in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, and Japan. Its natural habitat is taiga forest. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the red-breasted flycatcher. The genus name is from Latin and refers to a small fig-eating bird (ficus, fig) supposed to change into the blackcap in winter. The specific name albicilla is from Latin albus, white, and Neo-Latin cilla tail; this meaning of cilla arose from a misunderstanding of motacilla, the name for the wagtail.
Taxonomy
Genus: Ficedula; Family: Muscicapidae; Order: Passeriformes.
- Scientific name
- Ficedula albicilla
- Authority
- (Pallas, 1811)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Ficedula
Range and habitat
Breeding range: PAL : w Russia to e Russia and s to n Mongolia and ne China. Non-breeding range: se Asia through Borneo.
- Breeding range
- PAL : w Russia to e Russia and s to n Mongolia and ne China
- Non-breeding range
- se Asia through Borneo
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Karoo Scrub-Robin
Tychaedon coryphoeus
A drab, gray-brown scrub-robin with bold white tail tips, eyebrow, and throat markings. Pairs are active and noisy in dry scrubby thickets and arid brush, where they vocalize prominently from the top of shrubs, fences, and rocks, or hop and run around on the ground, sometimes with their tails cocked. A scolding harsh contact call and warbler-like song draws attention to them. Other scrub-robins in the same range are more strikingly colored, and chats lack the white tail tips of Karoo Scrub-Robin.
Gray-capped Cuckoo
Coccyzus lansbergi
Brightly-colored cuckoo found mainly west of the Andes. Combination of rufous-tawny body and gray separates it from other cuckoos in range. Nests in deciduous forest, dense scrub, and savanna at lower elevations. Outside of the breeding season, it disperses widely and can be seen far from its breeding areas, including at high elevations on rare occasions. Furtive and rarely comes out into the open for long. Song is short series of soft, guttural notes; also gives a harsh churr.
Chatham Islands Parakeet
Cyanoramphus forbesi
Medium-sized bright green parakeet mainly restricted to Mangere and Little Mangere Islands on the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. Note distinctive yellow crown above a red forehead. Due to hybridization with Red-crowned Parakeet, some birds have red extending to and beyond the eye and a crown that varies from yellow-orange to orange-red. Males are larger than females. Will feed out in the open on flowering flax as well as in forest habitats. Commonly seen on the ground, scratching the surface like a chicken. Chatters quietly while feeding and often calls in flight. Forms small flocks in autumn and winter. Red-crowned Parakeet is present in the same habitat but lacks yellow on crown and has an obvious red band extending to, and beyond, the eye.
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