From Opus

Photo by Rosnan_yahya
Johore, Malaysia, Oct 2004

Muscicapa dauurica

[edit] Identification

12-13 cm.

• Upperparts - Fresh plumage grey-brown, increasingly greyer as plumage wears
• Whitish underparts
• Brown-tinged flanks
• Dark bill (relatively large and broad-based)
  

Young birds: scaly brown upperparts, head and breast.

Photo by Rosnan_yahya
Johore, Malaysia, October 2005

[edit] Distribution

Breeds from southern Siberia to India and east to northern China and Japan.

Winters from India to China, the Philippines, South-East Asia and Indonesia. Leaves breeding areas from mid Aug and return in May and early Jun.

In the Western Palearctic recorded as a vagrant in Denmark (Sep 1959), Sweden (September 1986) and also reported in Turkey (May 1990). A record from Germany (Heligoland, August 1982) is generally regarded as an escape and others from the Faroes, Ireland and Norway are considered inadequately documented. Recorded in Britain in Northumberland in September 1956 and a first-summer bird on Fair Isle, Shetland in July 1992 but both are generally considered escapes.

[edit] Taxonony

As treated here this species is monotypic.^[1]
Ashy-breasted Flycatcher and Brown-streaked Flycatcher have been considered conspecific with this species in the past. The first split is widely accepted, the second not by every authority.

[edit] Habitat

Open woodland of deciduous trees or sometimes mangroves, conifers, parks and large gardens, plantations and orchards up to 1500m. On passage frequently in cultivated and even completely treeless areas.

[edit] Behaviour

It nests in a tree hole; 4 eggs are laid which are incubated by the female.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. Wikipedia
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

[edit] External Links