Ashy flycatcher

Appearance

The ashy flycatcher is 13–15 cm long. Adults of the nominate subspecies have bluish-grey crowns and upperparts, with very pale grey chins and throats, pale grey breasts and flanks, white bellies and undertail coverts, and grey thighs. They have black loral lines with white stripes above, along with pale, well-defined eye-rings. The flight feathers and tail are brownish-black and the upperwing coverts are brownish-black with grey fringes. The axillaries and underwing coverts are white.

Naming

There are six recognised subspecies:

⤷  "M. c. caerulescens" : The nominate subspecies, it is found in Mozambique, South Africa and Eswatini.

⤷  "M. c. brevicauda" Ogilvie-Grant, 1907: Found from northern Benin and southern Nigeria to South Sudan, western Kenya, southern Democratic Republic of the Congo and northwestern Angola. It is generally darker than the nominate and has slate-grey upperparts with grey underparts.

⤷  "M. c. nigrorum" : Found from Guinea to Togo. It is slightly paler than "brevicauda", with mouse-grey upperparts and more uniformly grey underparts.

⤷  "M. c. cinereola" Hartlaub & Finsch, 1870: Found in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. It is intermediate in appearance between "brevicauda" and "impavida".

⤷  "M. c. vulturna" Clancey, 1957: Found from Malawi and Mozambique to northern South Africa and Eswatini. It is paler than the nominate, with the throat and belly being purer white.

⤷  "M. c. impavida" Clancey, 1957: Found from Angola east to the DRC, Tanzania, and Mozambique and south to Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. It is even paler than "vulturna", with the upperparts being ashier and less blue in color and the underparts being more uniformly white.

Distribution

The ashy flycatcher is found through most of sub-Saharan Africa, from southern Cameroon east through Uganda to southern Kenya and Somalia, and south to Angola, northern Namibia and Botswana, and western South Africa. It is absent from the arid regions of Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa, but is found patchily through West Africa, in Sierra Leone, southeastern Guinea, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, southern Ghana, southwestern Togo, extreme southern Benin, Burkina Faso, and southern Nigeria.

Status

The ashy flycatcher was listed as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature on the IUCN Red List due to its large range, stable population, and occurrence in a number of protected areas. The population in Mozambique is estimated to number over 5,000 individuals.

Behavior

It is a restless and active bird that is constantly moving and shifting. It has been observed sunbathing on the ground.

Habitat

The species inhabits a variety of forest and woodland. It occurs near forest edges and enters forest only if it has been logged or opened by roads. It is also known to inhabit open gallery forest, secondary growth, riverine strips, and some plantations. It occurs in peanut and cassava fields with scattered tall trees and borders of shrubs or bushes, along with miombo woodland, dense woodland thickets, open riverine woodland, and thornveld and thorn-scrub. It mainly inhabits altitudes of up to 1,500 m, although it is known to occur at altitudes of up to 1,800 m in eastern Africa.

Reproduction

The ashy flycatcher is mainly breeds from September–January, with the exact observed breeding period varying throughout its range; it has also been observed breeding from February–June in the DRC, and in February, May, June, and August in East Africa. Pairs are monogamous, solitary, and territorial, maintaining areas of up to 20 hectare in the non-breeding seasons and territories of 1–4 ha during the breeding season. Nests are generally built at heights of 2–15 m in crevices, cavities, or forks in trees, or sometimes in holes or ledges in walls. They are built by both sexes and consist of a sturdy "cup" made of moss, grass, rootlets, shredded bark, fibers, and spiderwebs. Nests have an outer diameter of 11–18 cm, with an inner diameter of 45–50 mm and a depth of 25–28 mm. Birds have been recorded building over old nests and inhabiting old weaver bird nests. Eggs are 19 mm × 14.5 mm in size and glossy whitish-buff in appearance, with yellowish-brown or reddish flecking; they are laid in clutches of 2–3 and take 14 days to incubate. After hatching, young are fed by both parents.

Food

The ashy flycatcher forages singly, in pairs, or in groups of up to seven individuals. It is also known to sometimes join mixed-species flocks while foraging. Foraging is typically done in the upper levels of vegetation, between the treetops and the undercanopy. Ashy flycatchers typically sit upright on exposed perches. Food is caught by making short circular flights to catch flying insects or hovering to catch prey in foliage. It also gleans insects from foliage and bark.

Its diet consists of mostly insects, mainly beetles, flies, grasshoppers, adult and larval moths and butterflies, winged ants, and termites. Prey tend to be 5–35 mm in size, with the majority being 15–20 mm in size. They have also been observed eating small fruit and berries, and rarely, geckos up to 5 cm in length.