Broad-billed flycatcher

Broad-billed flycatcher
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Monarchidae
Genus:	Myiagra
Species:	M. ruficollis
Binomial name
Myiagra ruficollis (Vieillot, 1818)
Subspecies
See text

The broad-billed flycatcher (Myiagra ruficollis) is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Taxonomy and systematics

Broad-billed flycatcher with caterpillar - Fogg Dam, Middle Point, Northern Territory, Australia

Prior to 2008, the subspecies M. r. fulviventris was considered to be a full species as the Tanimbar flycatcher (Myiagra fulviventris) - Sclater, PL, 1883 and also known as the buff-bellied flycatcher, but this should not be confused with the identically named Tanimbar flycatcher (Ficedula riedeli) of the Family Muscicapidae.^[2]

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized:^[3]

• M. r. ruficollis - (Vieillot, 1818): Found on southern and eastern Lesser Sunda Islands and islands in the Flores Sea
• M. r. fulviventris - Sclater, PL, 1883: Found on the Tanimbar Islands
• M. r. mimikae - Ogilvie-Grant, 1911: Found in southern New Guinea, Aru Islands (off south-western New Guinea), islands of the Torres Strait and northern and north-eastern Australia

Description

In northern Australia, the broad-billed flycatcher is commonly found in moist forests and scrub surrounding permanent and seasonal fresh water areas such as billabongs and wet season marshes. Its size ranges from 14 to 17 cm. The bird feeds in the forest canopy on insects and small invertebrates. Unlike co-resident related species such as the paperbark flycatcher (M. nana) the broad-billed flycatcher is rarely seen hawking for insects in open areas outside the canopy.

Fogg Dam, Middle Point, Northern Territory, Australia, March 2014

References

1. BirdLife International (2012). "Myiagra ruficollis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. "Species Version 1 « IOC World Bird List". www.worldbirdnames.org. Retrieved 2016-11-01.
3. "IOC World Bird List 6.4". IOC World Bird List Datasets. doi:10.14344/ioc.ml.6.4.