Meet the 'Famous Five' Fabulous Flycatchers from Our Recent Nature Walks 💚💚💚

Meet the Famous Five Flycatchers of the Wild!

#intothewildwithrufus #birding

Today let’s have a look at five lovely species of flycatchers that we’d spotted in the recent past during our bird-walks into the wild!

Firstly, the Asian Brown Flycatcher

It’s a cute little brown bird that sits pretty on my mobile phone’s screensaver for months now, for its cute little look that charms and captivates you beyond measure! 😊

This Asian Brownie is also called the “Sallying” Master - and for a reason at that!

The term “sallying” describes a specific, rapid hunting technique where birds launch from a stationary perch to catch flying insects in mid-air, then return to the same spot to consume their catch.

As such, this Asian Brownie is an expert aerial hunter, that darts out to catch an insect mid-air, and loops back to the exact same perch.

It has large, dark eyes ringed by a distinct, pale white eye-ring. Because its plumage is so plain, the crisp eye-ring is often the key to easy identification of this Asian Brownie!

It is a special winter visitor travelling vast distances from Japan, Siberia, and the Himalayas to winter in the southern peninsula.

Secondly, the Brown-breasted flycatcher also known as Layard’s flycatcher - a migratory bird that breeds in northern India, China, and Southeast Asia, and winters in southern India and Sri Lanka.

Well, birders of all hues almost always have this confusion between these two birds – The Asian Brown flycatcher and the Brown-breasted flycatcher. Notoriously tricky at that! That’s because they almost look the same. However, there are slight variations that help in easy identification. Especially, it sports a conspicuous white eye-ring. Yet another diagnostic features is its pale, flesh-coloured legs and lower mandible.

from Richard Grimmett et al... Birds of the Indian Subcontinent

Thirdly, the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher

This Tickell’s Bluey features a beautiful, blue upper body that sharply contrasts with a bright rufous-orange breast, which then fades into a crisp white belly. The female is similar but with a grayish-blue tone.

Unlike many other canopy-dwelling birds of its ilk, the Tickell’s Blue Flycatchers have a strong preference for shaded, lower-canopy environments, especially dry scrub and bamboo forests near streams.

Their vocalisations are so sweet to the ears! It’s a beautiful, high-pitched, tinkling song. This Tickell’s Bluey is known to hunt and feed on insects even after dusk.

Fourthly, let us discuss one of the most dramatic and highly sought-after birds for wildlife photographers, admired for its sheer elegance and charm – The Indian Paradise Flycatcher – a native bird to the Indian subcontinent.

As you can see here in this picture, the adult male of the Paradise flycatcher sports extraordinarily long, central tail feathers (streamers) that can trail up to 10–12 inches behind it.

Before we proceed, let us look at the Birdman of India - Salim Ali’s take on the Paradise flycatcher –

This delightful creature - variously known as Rocket Bird, Widow Bird or Ribbon Bird - is a frequenter of shady groves and gardens, often in the neighbourhood of human habitations, and of light deciduous jungle with bamboo-clad nullahs. Pairs are usually met with, either by themselves or in the mixed hunting parties of small birds in forest. The lithe, fairy-like movements of the male as, with streamers trailing behind, he makes short aerial sallies and contortions after winged insects or flits in graceful undulating flight from one tree to another, present a fascinating spectacle,

says Salim Ali.

Indeed, watching one flutter gracefully through the forest canopy looks like a ribbon dancing in the air.

These birds are known to undertake extensive migration journeys at night, and are guided by their innate ability to navigate through Earth’s magnetic fields. 

Female paradise flycatchers do not possess the long, bewitching tail of the males. They also lack the blue ring around the eyes.

Fifthly and finally, let’s discuss the cute Verditer Flycatcher – a bird that we in India are lucky to have a darshan of, since they aren’t endemic to India. Ornithologists observe that, they breed up in the Himalayas and parts of Southeast Asia, and then winter across Peninsular India - making them a delightful winter visitor to the forests around the Western Ghats and down here in the south.

Unlike the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher - which has a blue back but an orange and white underside - the Verditer is almost entirely a brilliant copper-sulphate blue. In fact, its name “Verditer” refers specifically to a synthetic blue pigment. In this regard, Richard Grimmett in their book titled, Birds of the Indian Subcontinent, describe the bird as a “Pale blue flycatcher”.

Moreover, while many flycatchers prefer the shaded, lower canopy and dense undergrowth, the Verditer Flycatcher loves to do high-canopy sallying! It performs those sallying acrobatic loops by darting out to catch mid-air insects before returning to its perch.