Dark-sided Flycatcher - BirdForum Opus

Photo by ruchai
Si Racha, Thailand, July 2005

Muscicapa sibirica

Identification

13-14cm

• Dark grey brown above
• White throat
• White half collar
• Centre of lower breast and belly are white
• Buff wingbar
• Breast and flanks streaked dark grey brown
• Dark spots around center of whitish undertail coverts
• Pale sub-moustachial stripe
• Dark malar stripe
• White eyering
• Short dark bill
• Black feet
• Sexes alike
  

Juvenile

• Pale spots above
• Mottled breast
• Buff tipped wing coverts

Similar Species

There is more than a striking similarity to the Grey-streaked Flycatcher when they are darting about in the willows. But the obvious differences are the buffy wing bar rather than white of the Grey-streaked and the wing extension is considerably shorter than the Grey-Streaked. The Dark-sided is also a browner bird rather than ash-grey of the Grey-Streaked.

Distribution

Asia: found in Russia, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Mongolia, China, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Eastern and Western Himalayas, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Malay Peninsula, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Greater Sundas, Sumatra and Java.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 4 subspecies^[1]

• M. s. sibirica:

• South-eastern Siberia to Japan; winters to Indochina and Greater Sundas

• M. s. gulmergi:

• Western Himalayas (eastern Afghanistan to Kashmir and Garhwal)

• M. s. cacabata:

• Eastern Himalayas to south-eastern Tibet and north-eastern India; winters to southern Thailand

• M. s. rothschildi:

• Mountains of western China to northern Myanmar; winters to Malaysia and Indochina

Habitat

Broadleaf evergreen forest and secondary growth; forest edges up to 1,160 meters; river/Paddy areas and gardens.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes insects which are aerially hawked.

Breeding

The nest is cup-shaped nest. The clutch consists of 3-4 pale green eggs with red markings.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia
4. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Dark-sided Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 22 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Dark-sided_Flycatcher

External Links

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