Muscicapa striata
Silhouette: Ekytza · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to Siberia, and is migratory, wintering in Africa and south western Asia. It is declining in parts of its range.
This is an undistinguished looking bird with long wings and tail. The adults have grey-brown upperparts and whitish underparts, with a streaked crown and breast, giving rise to the bird's common name. The legs are short and black, and the bill is black and has the broad but pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores. Juveniles are browner than adults and have spots on the upperparts.
The spotted flycatcher was described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Motacilla striata. The genus name Muscicapa comes from the Latin musca, a fly and capere, to catch. The specific epithet striata is from the Latin striatus meaning striated.
There are five recognised subspecies all of which winter in southern Africa. The breeding range is given below. Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Flycatcher sighting in Pretoria on a given day, based on 30 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 97th most-seen of the 177 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Flycatcher in Pretoria on a given day, against under 5% in April to November, the lowest months. Those are among Pretoria's wettest months, with about 100 mm of rain a month against almost none in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spotted Flycatcher sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
55th of 89
Of the 89 cities where we can rate Spotted Flycatcher sightings, Pretoria ranks 55th at under 5%. The best odds are in Tashkent (Uzbekistan, about 20%), Jerusalem (Israel, about 20%) and Mombasa (Kenya, about 20%).
Same family: Muscicapidae
The closest relatives of the Spotted Flycatcher that you can see in Pretoria (family Muscicapidae, Old World Flycatchers, Robins, and Chats) are Cape Robin-Chat (about 60%) and Fiscal Flycatcher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spotted Flycatcher is recorded against all the birds logged in Pretoria (30 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
