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The dark-sided flycatcher is a small passerine bird belonging to the genus Muscicapa in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It has a wide breeding distribution in the East Palearctic with northern birds migrating south for the winter. It is also known as the Siberian flycatcher or sooty flycatcher, the latter name is also used for the sooty flycatcher of Africa.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
ID tip
The dark-sided flycatcher is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) in overall length. The upperparts are plain and dark grey-brown apart from a pale wingbar and pale edging to the tertial feathers. The breast and flanks have a variable amount of streaky dark grey-brown. The pale submoustachial stripe and dark malar stripe outline the white throat and half-collar. The centre of the lower breast and belly is white while the undertail-coverts are white with dark centres to the feathers. The bill is short and dark and the feet are black. The eye is large and has a whitish ring around it.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, Australia, Netherlands, North Korea, Iceland.
When to see it
Peak activity in October · a passage migrant species across most of its range
Easily confused with
Brown-breasted FlycatcherMuscicapa muttuiThe brown-breasted flycatcher is 13–14 cm in length and weighs between 10 and 14 g.
Grey-streaked FlycatcherMuscicapa griseistictaBradshaw, C.; Jepson, P. J.; Lindsey, N. J. (1991).
Learn the Dark-sided Flycatcher for real
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