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Taiga Flycatcher

Taiga Flycatcher

Ficedula albicilla

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The Taiga Flycatcher is a small flycatcher that breeds in the taiga of northern Eurasia from eastern Russia through Siberia to Mongolia and winters in South and Southeast Asia. Breeding males have an orange-red throat, while females are plain brown. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Red-breasted Flycatcher, which it closely resembles, and it is an occasional vagrant to western Europe.

Did you know?

  • Its species name albicilla means roughly “white tail”, after the white bases of its outer tail feathers.
  • The genus name Ficedula comes from the Latin for a small fig-eating bird.

About the species

Identification

Length 11–12.5 cm. Compared with Red-breasted Flycatcher, the male's orange-red throat patch is sharply bordered against the grey breast and the crown is brown; the female's throat is paler and contrasts with a darker breast. The black tail has white sides at the base. Its commonest call is a fast, hard rattle, and the song contains fast dry trills with rising and falling sections, which helps to separate it from Red-breasted Flycatcher.

Family

Muscicapidae

Size

Tiny (goldcrest)

Colours

grey, brown, white, orange

About the habitat

Breeds in taiga forest, especially deciduous-rich mixed woods; on migration and in winter wooded edges, parks and gardens.

Diet

Mainly small flying insects such as flies and midges, as well as beetles and other small invertebrates; occasionally small berries late in the season.

Behaviour

A typical flycatcher that watches from a low perch and darts out to seize passing insects, also gleaning from leaves and twigs; it often flicks its tail and wings. Outside the breeding grounds it is more often heard giving a sharp, dry rattle than singing.

Sources

Photo: Arunshank, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taiga Flycatcher.jpg

Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga_flycatcher

See also