Collared Flycatcher
Ficedula albicollis (Temminck, 1815) (1, 1)
Photo © By https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrej_chudy - https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrej_chudy/6260779290, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36448767
STATUS
Palearctic. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
Just two records in the period, as per BOU (1971).
RECORD
1). 1947 Shetland Skaw, Whalsay, adult male, shot, 11th May.
(S. Bruce, Scottish Naturalist 60: 51; BOURC (1971), Ibis 113: 142).
History Samuel Bruce (1948) in the Scottish Naturalist, Vol. LX. p. 51, says: 'On 11th May 1947, after a week of strong southerly winds, I observed a small black and white flycatcher hawking insects in the shelter of a sea cliff at Skaw on Whalsay. It had a pronounced white "collar" and, being familiar with the Pied Flycatcher, I realised at once that this bird was a stranger to me.
I procured the specimen and preserved the skin. The authorities at the Royal Scottish Museum confirmed my identification that it was an adult male Collared Flycatcher (Muscicapa albicollis Temm.) in full breeding plumage. The testes were strongly developed.
The specimen was exhibited at the recent Summer Conference of the British Ornithologists' Union and the Scottish Ornithologists' Club in Edinburgh. This is the first occasion on which this species has been recorded in Scotland; there are five records from England - all in Sussex.'
Admitted nationally in their Fifth Report as the first for Britain (BOURC (1971) Ibis 113: 142).
1950-57 RECORD
2). 1957 Caernarfonshire Bardsey, adult male, 10th May.
(R. W. Arthur, British Birds 51: 36; Lovegrove, Williams & Williams, 1994).
History Reginald W. Arthur (1958) in British Birds, Vol. LI. p. 36, say: 'In late afternoon on 10th May 1957 a routine visit was made to Nantwithy bed, Bardsey Island, Caernarvonshire, by workers at Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory. Their attention was drawn by a strikingly white and black bird, which was identified as a male Collared Flycatcher (Muscicapa albicollis).
The only familiar British bird with which it was reasonable to compare it was a male Pied Flycatcher M. hypoleuca), although none was present. It was of similar size, although in certain lights the white areas made it appear larger. A broad white collar, long broad white wing-bar and whitish rump were clearly seen at various ranges, with and without binoculars, often at distances of only a few feet. These were good characters, even at long distances, and the whiteness in general was remarkable, as was the pureness of the black.
During the two-hour period for which the bird was under observation it frequented the withy bed, stone walls and gardens near-by. When flying from one area to another, it normally flew at a few feet above the ground, although apparently quite strongly. An unsuccessful attempt was made to take it in a nylon net.
The bird was seen by R. W. Arthur, K. Billings, E. R. Corte, G. A. Dangerfield, B. Griffiths, G. F. Griffiths and T. Griffiths. This is the first record for Wales.
During the early hours of 10th May there had been a strong fall of Sedge Warblers (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), Whitethroats (Sylvia communis) and Willow Warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus). A Sedge Warbler taken in the morning had been ringed at Jersey Bird Observatory on 16th May 1956.'
Accepted nationally as the first for Wales (Lovegrove, Williams & Williams 1994).
NOT PROVEN
0). 1871 Sussex Brighton, male, seen, 24th April.
(Gould, 1862-73; J. H. Gurney, jun., Zoologist 1876: 4832-33; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[BOU, 1883; Walpole-Bond, 1938; BOU, 1971].
History J. H. Gurney, jun. (1876) in The Zoologist, 2nd series, Vol. XI. pp. 4832-33, undated, says: 'Messrs. Pratt and Sons, the well known taxidermists, informed me that they saw a Pied Flycatcher with a distinct white collar on the 24th of April, 1871, at Brighton, which may have been a White-collared Flycatcher (Muscicapa collaris).
This species was introduced by Mr. Gould into the British list. In his Birds of Great Britain, began in 1862 and completed in 1873, he has given a beautiful figure of it. I fear it must, however, be turned out again.
As long ago as 1837 it set up its claim to be a British bird in the same author's Birds of Europe, upon which authority it was subsequently inserted in Jenyns' British Vertebrates (p. 28), among the indented birds without descriptions; and it is also placed in the doubtful list at the end of Doubleday's Nomenclature of British Birds; and other books which I do not know of may possibly notice or include it. But what we have to do with is its more recent admission into Gould's Birds of Great Britain, for which I am mainly accountable. I stated to Mr. Gould that in Mrs. Clarke's collection I had seen an undoubted male specimen which she believed was shot in Norfolk, and which was marked in the Catalogue as "a fresh specimen".
Since then that noble collection - containing among other rarities, one of the most perfect specimens of the Great Auk known to exist - but has been most generously presented to the Norwich Museum, and I have been able to look it over at leisure. With the assistance of Mr. Reeve, the Curator, I have a slight but rather important discovery concerning the White-collared Flycatcher. The birds are all marked with small tickets, and this one is marked "No. 3", corresponding, as I hitherto supposed, with "No. 3a" in the Catalogue; but there is also another "No. 3" in the case, which is a Pied Flycatcher, and another "No. 3" in the Catalogue. It is therefore impossible to say which in the case is "No. 3a" in the Catalogue (the one marked as "a fresh specimen") refers, but the inference naturally is that it refers to the Pied Flycatcher, and this is strengthened in my mind by observing that two other foreign birds have been admitted, evidently in mistake for their duller and commoner English representatives.
The gentleman who formed the collection made it a rule to admit none but the very finest specimens obtainable, and I suspect that the White-collared Flycatcher was selected and put in as a very bright example of the Pied Flycatcher.'
Not admitted nationally in their first List of British Birds (BOU 1883: 41).
Accepted locally (Walpole-Bond 1938 (1): 344) even though it was not admitted nationally (Saunders 1899; Witherby 1920-24; BOU 1971).
0). 1911 Sussex Near Winchelsea, adult male, 12th May; male, 13th May.
(J. B. Nichols, British Birds 5: 238-239; W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 30: 186; E. N. Bloomfield, Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist 2: 2; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History J. B. Nichols (1912) in British Birds, Vol. V. pp. 238-239, says: 'On May 12th, 1911, a male Collared Flycatcher (M. collaris) was shot in Udimore Lane, near Winchelsea, and another male at the same place next day, May 13th, 1911, both in good plumage. This Flycatcher was included by Gould in the British list, but I believe these are the first specimens with authentic data.'
[By the kindness of Mr. Nichols we are able to give a photograph of one of the specimens to which he refers. It should be remarked that Gould's record was most unsatisfactory, being founded on his recollection of a specimen in a taxidermist's shop, and has never been accepted.
The adult male Collared Flycatcher is easily distinguished from the Pied Flycatcher by its conspicuous white "collar", which completely encircles the base of the neck. The white spot on the forehead varies in size, but is larger than that in the Pied Flycatcher. The Collared Flycatcher has also a greyish-white rump, and the primaries have a conspicuous white patch showing beyond the primary-coverts. The outer pair of tail-feathers usually have white on the outer web, and only very rarely is there white on the next pair. In young males and females the distinctions are not so easy, but there is usually a slight indication of the collar, and the white spot on the primaries is distinctive, while the second primary is slightly longer than the fifth, instead of being slightly shorter or equal to the fifth, as in the Pied Flycatcher.
The Collared Flycatcher breeds in Austrian Poland, Austria, Hungary, southern Russia, south, and parts of middle, Germany (but is very rare in north Germany), south-east Europe generally (but in Greece is apparently only a migrant), very local in France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy, and possibly in some Mediterranean islands and Spain. On passage it occurs in most parts of Europe, Persia, Asia Minor, and Palestine, while it winters in Egypt.'
Accepted locally (Walpole-Bond 1938 (1): 344).
Comment Hastings rarities. Not acceptable.
0). 1916 Sussex Hollington, two, males, shot, 15th May, one now at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (Acc. No. 1962Z10.622).
(J. B. Nichols, British Birds 10: 166; Walpole-Bond, 1938; Watson, 2010).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History J. B. Nichols (1916) in British Birds, Vol. X. p. 166, says: 'Two male Collared Flycatchers (Muscicapa collaris) were shot at Hollington, near St. Leonards, on May 15th, 1916, and were examined in the flesh by Mr. W. Ruskin Butterfield. These and the two obtained near Winchelsea in May, 1911, are the only authentic British occurrences.'
Accepted locally (Walpole-Bond 1938 (1): 344).
Watson (2010) in detailing the J. L. Auden collection in the Birmingham Museum lists a male specimen that was obtained at Hollington, Sussex, on 15th May 1916, adding that it was bought at the sale of J. B. Nichols collection who had bought it from G. Bristow on 26th May 1916.
Comment Hastings rarities. Not acceptable.
0). 1922 Sussex Westfield, adult male, shot, 5th May.
(W. R. Butterfield, Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist 3: 260; N. F. Ticehurst, British Birds 30: 292-293; Walpole-Bond, 1938).
[E. M. Nicholson & I. J. Ferguson-Lees, British Birds 55: 299-384 HR].
History W. Ruskin Butterfield (1923) in the Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist, Vol. III. p. 260, says: 'Major W. H. Mullens reports that a male as shot at Westfield Place on May 5th, and another was seen. Four previous occurrences in Sussex are known.'
N. F. Ticehurst (1937) in British Birds, Vol. XXX. pp. 292-293, says: 'I wish to put on record the occurrence of a fifth Collared Flycatcher (Muscicapa albicollis) in Sussex. The bird is an adult male and was shot by the gardener at Westfield Place on May 5th, 1922. Pied Flycatchers (M. h. hypoleuca) had occurred several times on spring passage there and the gardener had been requested to look out for them and to shoot one. The result was the present specimen. It was given to me a few months later by Mr. W. H. Mullens with the request that I should not record it for a considerable period.'
Accepted locally (Walpole-Bond 1938 (1): 344).
Comment Hastings rarities. Not acceptable.
0). 1948 Devon Baggy Point, male, seen, 20th April.
(D. Wilson & D. Ffrench-Blake, British Birds 42: 292-293; Moore, 1969).
[Not in BOU, 1971].
History D. Wilson & D. Ffrench-Blake (1949) in British Birds, Vol. XLII. pp. 292-293, say: 'On April 20th, 1948, close to Baggy Point, North Devon, we observed a small black and white bird perched on the top spray of a gorse bush about twenty yards away.
We were both able to examine it with glasses for about a minute. It was at first turned sideways to us and slightly away, but afterwards turned its back towards us. It had a well defined black head and black upper-parts and a prominent white collar round the back of the neck. There was a considerable amount of white on the wings and some on the tail, apparently on the outside. Before it turned its back to us the fine flycatcher beak. white on forehead and whitish under-parts were also seen. While perched it bowed and bobbed in a characteristic way and after about a minute it flew off with quirk flycatcher wing-beats, but, as it seemed to us, a more direct flight than that of a Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata). It made height rapidly, but did not clear a steep hillock ahead and landed on a bush just under the top, but flew on almost at once in a N.N.E. direction and was not seen again.
We both supposed the bird to have been a male Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa hypoleuca) and it was only after returning home and consulting The Handbook that we realized that it was evidently a Collared Flycatcher (M. albicollis). There was no possible doubt about the well-defined white collar, which was clearly seen to be complete round the back of the neck when the bird turned its back to us.'
Accepted locally (Moore 1969) but not admitted nationally (BOU 1971).
0). 1951 Sussex Fairlight, male, 20th May.
(N. F. Ticehurst, Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist 8: 13).
[des Forges & Harber, 1963].
History N. F. Ticehurst (1952) in the Hastings and East Sussex Naturalist, Vol. VIII. p. 13, says: 'A male, Fairlight, May 20th, complete white collar clearly seen (A.D.W.). Our sixth record.'
Not accepted locally (des Forges & Harber 1963) or admitted nationally (BOU 1971).
