Dark-sided Flycatcher

The dark-sided flycatcher is a small flycatcher, 13 to 14cm long, with a wide breeding distribution in the East Palearctic, northern birds migrating south for the winter. The upperparts are plain, dark grey-brown apart from a pale wingbar and pale tertial edging, and the breast and flanks are streaked dark grey-brown. A pale submoustachial stripe and dark malar stripe outline a white throat and half-collar, and the bill is short and dark (Wikipedia, general species account).

Like other flycatchers, it feeds by perching on an exposed branch and waiting. The female builds a cup-shaped nest up to 8m above the ground on a branch or sometimes in a hole, and incubates three or four eggs while the male feeds her. The subspecies rothschildi breeds in western China and Myanmar. The song is thin, high-pitched notes with trills and whistles; the call is a metallic tinkling.