Red-throated Flycatcher Ficedula albicilla 紅喉姬鶲
Category I. Common passage migrant and winter visitor to open country or lightly-wooded habitats.
IDENTIFICATION
Jan. 2014, Michelle and Peter Wong. First-winter.
11.5 cm. In all plumages the tail is dark grey-brown with large white patches at the sides of the tail-base.
Apart from call (see below), Red-throated Flycatchers are distinguished from Red-breasted Flycatchers by their generally grey tone, blackish uppertail coverts that are darker than the tail and an all dark bill (sometimes with a small faint pale base to the lower mandible).
Jan. 2019, Kenneth Lam. Adult male.
It is only males in breeding plumage (which are rare in HK) that have an orange-red throat; this is bordered by a grey face and variable grey breast band. The similar adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher has more extensive orange-red on the throat and breast and lacks the grey breast-band.
VOCALISATIONS
The typical call is a short rattle that is similar to that of Red-breasted Flycatcher but differs in sounding faster and more buzzing as the individual elements are uttered in more rapid succession.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
It occurs in a diverse array lightly wooded and open country habitats including golf courses and forest-edge mainly in the New Territories. It appears to be scarce on Lantau and rare on other islands.
In the 2016-19 winter atlas it was recorded in 3.6% of 1km squares, a substantial increase on the 1.3% of the 2001-05 survey. In both surveys most birds were recorded in the northwest and northeast New Territories.
OCCURRENCE
Common passage migrant and winter visitor with extreme dates of 13 September and 28 April. Highest numbers occur between the third week of October and the third week of February, with peak counts in November presumably involving both passage migrants and arriving winter visitors (Figure 1). This is in contrast to the period from 1958 to 1998 when there was an obvious peak involving passage birds in the third week of October with lower numbers in winter. There has been an increase in the numbers recorded since winter 2014/15, but this appears to be a result of increased observer activity (Figure 2). The highest count on record is of an exceptional 17 at Fanling Golf Course on 26 November 2015.
Most records are of birds lacking red throats, and although there are records as early as late January of males with full red throats, most such birds occur in April; this includes regularly-observed wintering birds that remained to attain a red throat in mid-April.
First recorded in HK in spring 1903 (Vaughan and Jones 1913), it was subsequently recorded on spring and autumn passage by Herklots (1940, 1953), and in winter by Dove and Goodhart (1955) and Walker (1958).
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
It usually occurs singly although on occasions several may be found in the same general area. Active and restless, often flicking its wings and cocking its tail, it is often detected by its distinctive call.
It feeds mainly on insects and catches airborne prey by making short flights from a low perch. It frequently forages on the ground and in grass. In cold weather it may feed on the concrete surface of water catchment channels.
RANGE & SYSTEMATICS
Monotypic. Previously considered conspecific with Red-breasted Flycatcher. Red-throated Flycatcher breeds from eastern Russia east through central Asia to Kamchatka, south to northeast Kazakhstan, north Mongolia and Amurland. It winters from south Nepal east to northeast India, Bangladesh, south China (Guangdong and Hainan) and southeast Asia (del Hoyo et al 2020, Liu and Chen 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend stable.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
del Hoyo, J., N. Collar, G. M. Kirwan, and D. A. Christie (2020). Taiga Flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.taifly1.01
Dove, R. S. and H. J. Goodhart (1955). Field observations from the Colony of Hong Kong. Ibis 97: 311-340.
Herklots, G. A. C. (1940). Notes and comments. Ornithology. Hong Kong Naturalist 10: 122-127.
Herklots, G. A. C. (1953). Hong Kong Birds. South China Morning Post, Hong Kong.
Liu, Y. and Y. H. Chen (eds) (2020). The CNG Field Guide to the Birds of China (in Chinese). Hunan Science and Technology Publication House.
Vaughan, R. E. and K. H. Jones (1913). The birds of Hong Kong, Macao and the West River or Si Kiang in South-East China, with special reference to their nidification and seasonal movements. Ibis 1913: 17-76, 163-201, 351-384.
Walker, F. J. (1958). Field Observations on birds in the Colony of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, Hong Kong. (duplicated).
