The black-banded flycatcher (''Ficedula timorensis''), also known as the Timor flycatcher, is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae. In the past the species was considered to be related to the Australasian robins but this was as the result of convergent evolution. It is endemic to Timor island. The black-banded flycatcher is small with a broad bill and distinctive

plumage Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...

. The species has a white belly, lower rump and throat with a thin black band across the chest. The tail, neck and wings are black and the back, upper wing and shoulders rich chestnut. The plumage of the head is

sexually dichromatic Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most anim ...

, with the head being black in the males and dark grey in the females. The eye and bill is black and the feet and legs are yellow. The

calls Call or Calls may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * Call, a type of betting in poker * Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage Music and dance * Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...

consist of soft whistles, some of which sound similar to the Timor stubtail. The black-banded flycatcher is an uncommon species that is difficult to see and very little is known about its biology. The natural habitat of the species is lowland monsoon forests and hill forests up to 1200 m. Nothing is known about its breeding behaviour, the only observations of this are adults feeding recently

fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerable c ...

d chicks in December. It feeds singly or in pairs on invertebrates, taking its prey mostly by gleaning with a few sallying flights to snatch aerial prey. The species is currently listed as near threatened. It is threatened by habitat loss.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q994417 black-banded flycatcher Birds of Timor black-banded flycatcher Taxonomy articles created by Polbot