Asian Brown Flycatcher

Muscicapa dauurica

Family: Chats, Old World Flycatchers, and Allies · Status: Very common migrant · Size: 12.5–13.5 cm · Conservation: Not Evaluated

Range

Breeds from eastern Russia, northern China, and Japan to Korea; winters to the Indian subcontinent, southern China, and Southeast Asia.

Identification

Nondescript flycatcher with plain ashy-brown upperparts and whitish underparts, sometimes with pale grey-brown smudging or indistinct streaking on upper breast. Extensive pale base to lower mandible separates it from Dark-sided Flycatcher, which also has a less distinct pale loral area, smaller bill, dark undertail-covert centres, and longer wings. Brown-streaked Flycatcher has a larger bill with warm buff wing-covert fringes, and even more extensive pale base to lower mandible. Despite the name, both Brown-streaked and Asian Brown may show brown streaks on underparts, and Brown-streaked may even lack the brown streaks. Brown-breasted Flycatcher has pale legs, obvious contrast between greyish nape and warm brown upperparts, a distinctively long, hooked bill, and warm rufous wing-covert edges.

Habitat

Forest, parks, gardens, wooded areas, and mangroves.