Atlas Pied Flycatcher

Ficedula speculigera - Gobemouche de l'Atlas

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♀ adult
Systematics
  • Order 
    :

    Passeriformes

  • Family
    :

    Muscicapidés

  • Genus
    :

    Ficedula

  • Species
    :

    speculigera

Descriptor

Bonaparte, 1850

Biometrics
  • Size
    : 13 cm
  • Wingspan
    : -
  • Weight
    : -
Geographic range

Distribution

Identification

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♂ adult plum. breeding
Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♀ adult

The Atlas Pied Flycatcher is still sometimes considered as a subspecies of the European Black Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca). In spring, males, unlike some Black Flycatchers, never seem to show any gray plumage. They differ from the Black Flycatcher by the large white spot on the forehead, a truly striking feature in nature, the absence of white at the base of the rectrices (not always easy to see) and a large white spot at the base of the primary remiges. These last two criteria put it closer to the Collared Flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), from which it differs in the absence of white on the rump and white collar. This species is also very similar to the iberiae subspecies of the Black Flycatcher.
Females are gray and the white on the wings is much less extended than in males; they also don't have a spot on the forehead and are therefore very difficult to distinguish from those of other black-plumaged Flycatchers. The young of both sexes look very much like the females.

Subspecific information monotypic species

Foreign names

  • Gobemouche de l'Atlas,
  • Papamoscas del Atlas,
  • papa-moscas-do-atlas,
  • Atlasschnäpper,
  • atlaszlégykapó,
  • Atlasvliegenvanger,
  • Balia dell'Atlante,
  • atlasflugsnappare,
  • Atlasfluesnapper,
  • muchárik atlaský,
  • lejsek atlaský,
  • Berber-fluesnapper,
  • atlaksensieppo,
  • muchołówka atlasowa,
  • Atlasa mušķērājs,
  • Атласская мухоловка,
  • アトラスマダラヒタキ,
  • 非洲斑姬鹟,
  • 阿特勒斯斑姬鶲,

Voice song and cries

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♂ adult plum. breeding

The calls and the song are similar to those of the Black Flycatcher. The song is fairly short and slow.

Habitat

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♂ adult plum. breeding

The Atlas Pied Flycatcher is a montane species found in beautiful forests (cedar and oak forests in Morocco, cork oak and holm oak in Tunisia). In this latter country, it also inhabits large parks near forests. It frequently uses the old nests of woodpeckers to nest.

Behaviour character trait

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♂ adult

According to what we have observed in Tunisia, the Atlas Pied Flycatcher is not particularly shy and can settle nearby to humans. Like all flycatchers, it hunts from a perch, capturing insects in flight or on the ground.

Dietfeeding habits

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♀ adult plum. breeding

The Atlas Pied Flycatcher seem to only consume small invertebrates.

Reproduction nesting

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♂ Second

In the northwest of Tunisia (El Feija National Park), in May 2012, only the males were clearly visible, most of the females being in the process of incubation. In Djurdjura (Algeria), the average date of the first egg-laying is on 26th May (85 egg-laying). The size of egg-laying varies between 4 and 7 eggs (average of 5.22 eggs/egg-laying for 35 egg-laying from Algeria and Morocco). In this country, young Atlas Pied Flycatchers can be found at the nest from the end of May to mid-July.

Geographic range

Gobemouche de l'Atlas
♂ adult plum. breeding

The Atlas Pied Flycatcher is an endemic species of the Maghreb mountains, from the High Atlas of Morocco in the west to the mountains of Kroumirie in Tunisia in the east. It is usually found above 800 m in altutude. Almost nothing is known of its migratory movements or its wintering areas (one winter data in Ivory Coast). The birds usually return to their breeding grounds in the third decade of April. They leave at the end of August, some staying until the beginning of October (7 October 1984 in Morocco).

Threats - protection

IUCN conservation status
Extinct
Threatened
Least
concern
Extinc
in the Wild
Near
threatened
Not
evaluated
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC NE

Sources of information

Other sources of interest

QRcode Gobemouche de l'AtlasSpecification sheet created on 31/07/2023 by
Translation by AI Oiseaux.net
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