Dark-sided Flycatcher

The dark-sided flycatcher is a small passerine 13–14 cm long. The upperparts are plain, dark grey-brown apart from a pale wingbar and pale edging on the tertials, and the breast and flanks have a variable amount of streaky dark grey-brown; a pale submoustachial stripe and dark malar stripe outline the white throat and half-collar, and the bill is short and dark with black feet. It has a wide breeding distribution in the East Palearctic, with northern birds migrating south for the winter (Wikipedia, general species account).

The subspecies gulmergi occurs from Afghanistan to Kashmir and cacabata from the eastern Himalaya to south-east Tibet and perhaps Myanmar, while the nominate sibirica breeds in south-east Siberia west beyond Lake Baikal, Mongolia, north-east China, North Korea and Japan; the wintering range includes north-east India, Bangladesh, southern China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia as far as Sumatra, Java, Borneo and the Philippines. Three or four eggs are laid, incubated by the female, who is fed by the male. The song is a series of thin, high-pitched notes with trills and whistles, and the call a metallic tinkling. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a summer migrant forest bird with a Moderate range of about 135,000 km² and stable long-term trend (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).