Brown-breasted Flycatcher

The brown-breasted or Layard's flycatcher is a small flycatcher, 13–14cm long and 10–14g, olive-brown above with brighter rufous upper tail coverts and wing edges. It has pale lores, a conspicuous eye-ring, a white chin and throat bordered by faint moustache stripes, a pale brown breast and flanks and a buffy-white belly. Its pale flesh-coloured legs and lower mandible separate it from the similar Asian brown flycatcher, which has black legs (Wikipedia, general species account).

It forages for insects below the forest canopy, often close to the forest floor. It breeds in north-eastern India, central and southern China and northern Myanmar and Thailand, and winters in southern India and Sri Lanka. It was named by Layard after his servant Muttu, who brought him the first specimen. In India it is a winter migrant with a moderate range; SoIB 2023 finds its long-term trend stable and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).