Ultramarine flycatcher

Ficedula superciliaris

Photo by Michael Gillam (Flickr)

Common name:
ultramarine flycatcher (en); papa-moscas-azul-ultramarino (pt); gobemouche ultramarin (fr); papamoscas ultramarino (es); brauenschnäpper (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Muscicapidae

Range:
This species breeds from eastern Afghanistan, through the Himalayas mountain range and into southern China. They migrate south to winter in southern China, Myanmar, northern Thailand and central and north-eastern India.

Size:
These birds are 11,5-12 cm long and weigh 8 g.

Habitat:
The ultramarine flycatcher breed mainly in mountain broadleaved forests, also using pine forests, at altitudes of 1.800-3.200 m. Outside the breeding season they use both moist and dry tropical forests, dry savannas and man-made habitats such as plantations, arable land, rural gardens and urban areas.

Diet:
They feed mainly on insects, such as flies and beetles.

Breeding:
Ultramarine flycatchers breed in April-July. The nest is built by both sexes, consisting of a cup made of moss, bark strips and grass, lined with hairs, rootlets and plant fibres, and placed in a tree hole, depression on a bank or in a nest box up to 7 m above the ground. The female lays 3-5 olive greenish to dull stone-buff eggs with reddish-brown freckles. There is no information regarding the incubation and fledging periods.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as common and widespread to uncommon. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.