Red-breasted Flycatcher Ficedula parva 紅胸姬鶲
Category I. Uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor to open country areas; first recorded in 2005.
IDENTIFICATION
Mar. 2022, D. A. Diskin.
11·5 cm. In all plumages the tail is grey-brown and there are large white patches at the sides of the tail-base.
The male in breeding plumage has a grey face and sides of breast, and orange-red chin, throat and breast; the rest of the underparts are white. Non-breeding adult males are duller but retain the orange-red throat and breast. They are similar to male Red-throated Flycatchers but the latter have a small orange-red patch restricted to the throat with a grey breast-band below, and they lose the red throat in winter.
Jan. 2009, Michelle and Peter Wong.
Very similar to non-breeding plumage Red-throated Flycatchers, females and first-winter birds are distinguished by a warmer tone to the plumage, pale base to lower mandible and uppertail coverts paler than the tail. The call also differs (see below).
VOCALISATIONS
The typical call is a short rattle that is similar to that of Red-throated Flycatcher but differs in sounding slower and less buzzing as the individual elements are uttered in less rapid succession.
DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE
Occurs at village edge and in open country with trees. Favoured sites include Mai Po, Po Toi, and Shek Kong Airfield Road.
OCCURRENCE
First recorded in HK in 2005 (Leader and Welch 2011), it had doubtlessly been overlooked due to it being considered unlikely as a vagrant to east Asia and a lack of understanding of how to separate it from Red-throated Flycatcher. It is now known to be an uncommon passage migrant and winter visitor, with extreme dates of 19 September and 27 April (Figure 1).
The main period of occurrence is from the last week of October to the last week of January, with higher numbers in the second half of November and first week of December indicating passage. A second minor peak in late December and January possibly indicates an influx of winter visitors during cold weather. Smaller numbers remain in February and March, and there is evidence of spring migration from the last week in March to the end of April, albeit in smaller numbers than in autumn.
It has occurred every winter period since the first record. Total numbers were in single digits up to 2011/12, after which numbers varied from a high of 16 in the 2012/13 season to a low of four in 2020/21.
BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET
Usually solitary, it is active and restless, and often flicks its wings and cocks its tail. It feeds mainly on insects and catches airborne prey by making short flights from a low perch and 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-throated Flycatcher. Breeds from eastern Europe east to the Urals, northwest Kazakhstan, north Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Iran. Winters in Pakistan and India, and locally in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Apparently, a rare winter visitor in east Asia as it has also been recorded from eastern China as far north as Beijing, Taiwan, Korea and Japan (Taylor et al. 2020).
CONSERVATION STATUS
IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend increasing.
Figure 1.
Leader, P. J. and G. Welch (2011). Red-breasted Flycatcher Ficedula parva on Po Toi: The first Hong Kong record. Hong Kong Bird Report 2007-08: 293-301.
Taylor, B., G. M. Kirwan, and D. A. Christie (2020). Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva), 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.rebfly.01
