Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) [XC878913]
by Alan Dalton from Arrondissement de la Rochelle (near Saint-Xandre), Charente-Maritime, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France (call, flight call, nocturnal flight call)
Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa) [XC884327]
by Sergi Carreras from Arrondissement Halle-Vilvoorde (near Linkebeek), Vlaams-Brabant, Vlaams Gewest, Belgium (call, flight call, nocturnal flight call)
Nest
A loose, cup, composed of plant material and twigs, in the fork of a tree, a crevice or in creeper, lined with feathers and hair.
Eggs (Guide)
4 - 5; very pale blue, mottled and blotched reddish and purplish.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with Gambaga Flycatcher (Muscicapa gambagae), and sometimes regarded as conspecific.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
striata (Pallas, 1764) - Breeds Europe eastern across Ural Mts to western Siberia (R Irtysh), and north-western Africa (northern Morocco east to northern Tunisia). Non-breeding west, eastern and southern Africa.
balearica von Jordans, 1913 - Breeds Balearic Is. Non-breeding western and south-western Africa. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Mediterranean Flycatcher (Muscicapa tyrrhenica).
tyrrhenica Schiebel, 1910 - Breeds Corsica and Sardinia. Non-breeding probably Africa. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Mediterranean Flycatcher (Muscicapa tyrrhenica).
neumanni Poche, 1904 - Breeds islands in Aegean Sea east to Caucasus and northern and western Iran and south to Cyprus and Levant, also central Siberia (R Irtysh east to western Transbaikalia). Non-breeding eastern and southern Africa.
sarudnyi Snigirewski, 1928 - Breeds eastern Iran and Turkmenistan east to Tien Shan, Pamirs and northern and western Pakistan. Non-breeding probably eastern and southern Africa.
mongola Portenko, 1955 - Breeds south-eastern Altai east to south-eastern Transbaikalia and northern Mongolia. Non-breeding probably eastern and southern Africa.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7