The narcissus flycatcher (''Ficedula narcissina'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by th ...

bird in the

Old World flycatcher The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, Bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica)'' and Northe ...

family. It is native to the East Palearctic, from

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

to the north, through Japan across through

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, wintering in southeast Asia, including the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Vietnam and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. It is highly migratory, and has been found as a vagrant from Australia in the south to Alaska in the nort

Narcissus flycatcher males are very distinctive in full breeding plumage, having a black crown and mantle, a bright orange throat with paler chest and underparts, an orange-yellow eyebrow, black wings with a white wing patch, an orange-yellow rump, and a black tail. Non-breeding males have varying levels of yellow. Females are completely dissimilar, with generally buff-brown coloration, with rusty-colored wings, and a two-toned eyering. This species primarily feeds on insects, and lives in deciduous woodlands. Breeding males sing in repeated melodious whistles. The

green-backed flycatcher The green-backed flycatcher (''Ficedula elisae'') is a bird in the family Muscicapidae, which contains the Old World flycatchers. It was long considered to a subspecies of the narcissus flycatcher, but morphological and acoustical differences bet ...

(''F. elisae'') of northern China and the

Ryukyu flycatcher The Ryukyu flycatcher (''Ficedula owstoni'') is a passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It is native to Okinawa and Ryukyu in Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East As ...

(''F. owstoni'') of the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...

were formerly considered subspecies. There are several subspecies, largely determined by plumage and range variations, at least two of which have been split off as separate species. ''F. n. narcissina'', the nominate race, found from Sakhalin south to the Philippines. The narcissus flycatcher arrives in Southeast Asia during early May to commence mating behavior. Males arrive before females to prepare a nest that will aid in the selection of a mate as well as shelter. Due to familiarity with the ritual older males typically arrive at the area sooner than younger males. The name of the bird is a reference to the yellow color of many varieties of the narcissus flower.

References

External links

Unusual Narcissus Flycatcher in South Korea
analysis in Birds Korea
Narcissus Flycatcher
in Avibase

song files {{Taxonbar, from=Q1367236 narcissus flycatcher Birds of China Birds of Japan narcissus flycatcher