Two High Altitude Flycatchers

News: Researchers have released a study titled ‘Impact of climate change on two high-altitude restricted and endemic flycatchers of the Western Ghats, India.

About Black-and-orange Flycatcher (Ficedula nigrorufa)

It prefers the leaf-litter, understorey of shola forests, especially among the stunted evergreen forest patches in the sky islands of Western Ghats.

IUCN Status: ‘Least Concern’

The male is distinctly black headed with black wings. The female has the black replaced by dark brown and has a light eye-ring.

About Nilgiri Flycatcher (Eumyias albicaudatus)

It is dark steely indigo blue with some violet-blue on the forehead and darker lores. The female is duller with dark brown on the upperparts and dark grey below.

It was formerly referred to as the Nilgiri verditer flycatcher because of its similarity to the verditer flycatcher.

It is also found above 600 m elevation but more frequently above 1200 m.

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Note: Verditer is a winter migrant to the Nilgiris, which, however, has distinct dark lores and a lighter shade of blue.

Threats-The study has found that these two species could suffer a loss of 31% and 46% of their range respectively by 2050 due to climate change.

Moreover, about 75% of the currently suitable areas of both these species lie outside the protected area network in the Western Ghats.

 

Print Friendly and PDF
Blog
Academy
Community