Birds of Singapore
by the Bird Society of Singapore
26 species in Singapore.
Muscicapidae is a large Old World family found across Europe, Africa, and Asia. Most are small insect-eating birds with broad, flattened bills for snatching prey in flight, though the ground-foraging members have finer bills. Plumage varies widely: many are typical "little brown jobs", while others show much brighter colours. Habitat preferences are likewise highly varied, ranging from forest inhabitants like the Cyornis flycatchers to grassland species like the Saxicola stonechats. Most of the higher-latitude breeding species migrate south for the winter.
This family poses many identification challenges: most difficult are the Muscicapa flycatchers and female Ficedula flycatchers. Zappey's and Blue-and-white Flycatcher differ only in male throat colour; females and first-winter males can't be told apart.
Most species use forest, forest edge, and wooded parks and gardens; several migrant flycatchers also pass through mangroves and coastal scrub. Mangrove Blue Flycatcher is the mangrove specialist, in nipah palm thickets and mangrove transition forest. A few prefer damp areas near streams, like Siberian Blue Robin and Ferruginous Flycatcher. Siberian Stonechat and Blue Rock Thrush are outliers: the stonechat favours open grasslands, and the rock thrush favours high-rise buildings and rocky coasts.
Most hunt by sallying from an exposed perch to snatch flying insects, returning to the same spot afterward; robins and redstarts instead drop to the ground to feed before flying back up. Usually solitary, with frequent tail-flicking. Oriental Magpie-Robin and White-rumped Shama are loud and conspicuous, while the migrant flycatchers are quieter.