Spotted flycatcher
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| Spotted flycatcher in the Czech Republic | |
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M. striata
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| Muscicapa striata (Pallas, 1764)
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The spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It breeds in most of Europe and western Asia, and is migratory, wintering in Africa and south western Asia. It is declining in parts of its range.
This is an undistinguished looking bird with long wings and tail. The adults have grey-brown upperparts and whitish underparts, with a streaked crown and breast, giving rise to the bird's common name.[2] The legs are short and black, and the bill is black and has the broad but pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores. Juveniles are browner than adults and have spots on the upperparts.
Behaviour and ecology
Spotted flycatchers hunt from conspicuous perches, making sallies after passing flying insects, and often returning to the same perch. Their upright posture is characteristic.
Spotted flycatchers exhibit an atypical molt strategy, that is they molt their primaries and some of their secondaries in the reverse order from what is seen in most passerines.[3]
The flycatcher's call is a thin, drawn out soft and high pitched tssssseeeeeppppp, slightly descending in pitch.
Breeding
They are birds of deciduous woodlands, parks and gardens, with a preference for open areas amongst trees. They build an open nest in a suitable recess, often against a wall, and will readily adapt to an open-fronted nest box. 4-6 eggs are laid.
Interestingly, most European birds cannot discriminate between their own eggs and those of other species. The exception to this are the hosts of the common cuckoo, which have had to evolve this skill as a protection against that nest parasite. The spotted flycatcher shows excellent egg recognition, and it is likely that it was once a host of the cuckoo, but became so good at recognising the intruder's eggs that it ceased to be victimised.[4] A contrast to this is the dunnock, which appears to be a recent cuckoo host, since it does not show any egg discrimination.
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Muscicapa striata clutch 02.JPG
Clutch
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Grauschnäpper.jpg
Spotted flycatcher nest.
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Juvenile Spotted Flycatcher.JPG
A juvenile flycatcher shortly after leaving the nest.
References
Further reading
- Bradshaw, C., P. J. Jepson and N. J. Lindsey. (1991) Identification of brown flycatchers British Birds 84(12):527-542
- Alström, Per & Erik Hirschfeld (1991) Field identification of Brown, Siberian and Grey-streaked Flycatchers Birding World 4(8):271-278
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- Spotted Flycatcher videos, photos & sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
- Ageing and sexing (PDF; 1.8 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
- Feathers of Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata)
- Spotted flycatcher - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.
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