Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher Cyornis brunneatus Scientific name definitions

15 cm; 14·3–21·8 g. Medium-sized to large, plump brownish flycatcher with long bill hooked at tip, short rounded wings. Adult has head and upperparts plain brown, prominent pale buff eyering and supraloral line; upperwing slightly darker brown, tail rufous-brown; chin and throat to centre of upper breast white, slight dark barring or scaling on sides of throat and neck; breast mostly pale brown, flanks as breast or paler, rest of underparts white; iris dark brown; maxilla blackish, mandible yellowish; legs pink or pale yellowish pink. Sexes alike in plumage, female on average smaller than male. Juvenile is similar to adult, but buff tips on upperparts create scaly appearance, has rufous spots at tips of wing-coverts and tertials, and dark tip of mandible.

SE China (S Henan, S Anhui and Zhejiang S to Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian); non-breeding Malay Peninsula and possibly lowland forests of Sumatra (1 Yong, D.L. and Liu, Y. (2015). Passage of Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher Rhinomyias brunneatus through Singapore, with notes on wintering status in South-East Asia. Forktail 31: 43–46. Close ).

Edges of mature lowland broadleaf evergreen forest, both primary and secondary, and especially dense bamboo thickets and bushes; occasionally in large gardens. On passage occurs in lowland semi-evergreen rainforest, mixed deciduous forest, and mangroves and beach scrub; in non-breeding areas in primary lowland semi-evergreen forest, mixed deciduous forest and mangroves and scrub. Breeds mainly at 600–1600 m in China, but perhaps also lower. On passage through Thai-Malay Peninsula, recorded at up to 2000 m, but in same region on passage and in winter usually found below 250 m.

Migratory. Post-breeding movement S through S Thailand (rare) and Malay Peninsula (uncommon); arrives Malay Peninsula mid Sept to end Oct or mid Nov, present to mid or even late Apr; previously considered rare passage migrant and winter visitor in Singapore, but relatively high densities found recently there between mid Oct and early Nov (2 Yong, D.L. and Liu, Y. (2015). Passage of Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher Rhinomyias brunneatus through Singapore, with notes on wintering status in South-East Asia. Forktail. 31: 43–46. Close ). Further N, noted on passage through Shanghai (China) in May and Sept (3 Lamont, A. R. (2015). A study of the avifauna of the Vankee development, Minhang district, Shanghai, China: June 2005 to May 2014 – Part 2: passerines. BirdingASIA 23:34–46. Close ). Recent records for N Borneo (Brunei, in Oct), Java and Sumatra (2 Yong, D.L. and Liu, Y. (2015). Passage of Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher Rhinomyias brunneatus through Singapore, with notes on wintering status in South-East Asia. Forktail. 31: 43–46. Close ). Main winter range usually assumed to be lowland forests of Sumatra, where species has been recorded from Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (4 Gooddie, C. (2015). Ornithological records from Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, Sumatra, Indonesia. Forktail 31:70–81. Close ), but there is a Jan record from as far N as SW Thailand (Kaeng Krachan National Park). Passage migrant on Hainan I in Apr. Up to nine records in Hanoi, Vietnam, during period 2 Sept–4 Oct 2010 (5 Mahood, S.P., Delonglée, S., Klingel, F., Wicker, F. and Craik, R. (2013). The status of Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher Rhinomyias brunneatus in Vietnam. Forktail. 29: 124–127. Close ).

Song said to be a series of loud descending whistles; described also as a loud, melodious trumpeting couplet followed by 2–5 evenly pitched notes (and often preceded by barely audible high-pitched note), “(pseet,) toot-toot titidirit” (6 Eaton, J. A., B. van Balen, N. W. Brickle, and F. E. Rheindt (2016). Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago: Greater Sundas and Wallacea. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. Close ). Calls include harsh churrs.

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in South-East Chinese Mountains EBA. Uncommon or scarce and local in SE China, where known from several conservation units, including Nonggang National Nature Reserve and Xidamingshan and Bapen Nature Reserves, all in SW Guangxi (7 Jiang, A., F. Zhou, and N. Liu (2014). Significant recent ornithological records from the limestone area of south-west Guangxi, south China, 2004–2012. Forktail 30:122–129. Close ), as well as Nanling National Nature Reserve, in Guangdong (8 Lee Kwok Shing, Lau, M.W.-N., Fellowes, J.R. and Chan Bosco Pui Lok (2006). Forest bird fauna of South China: notes on current distribution and status. Forktail. 22: 23–38. Close ), and Dongzhai National Nature Reserve, in Henan (9 Liu, Y., Zhang, Z.-W., Li, J.-Q., Zhang, Y., Lu, S. and Ruan, X.-F. (2008). A survey of the birds of the Dabie Shan range, central China. Forktail. 24: 80–91. Close ). Uncommon in non-breeding areas. Status unclear in Yunnan, where recorded in Ailao Mts, but perhaps only passage (10 Fei, W., Luming, L., Jianyun, G., Dao, Y., Wanzhao, H., Ting, Y., Ji, X., Qiang, L. and Xiaojun, Y. (2015). Birds of the Ailao Mountains, Yunnan province, China. Forktail. 31: 47–54. Close ). Considered threatened because of continued loss and fragmentation of lowland forest in breeding and wintering ranges; in SE China most primary forest has been cleared by logging and conversion to agriculture, while lowland forest in passage areas and at wintering sites has been extensively cleared and little now remains. From assessment of known records, descriptions of abundance and range size, the population is estimated to contain 2500–9999 mature individuals; this equates to 3750–14,999 individuals in total (rounded to 3500–15,000 individuals). A moderately rapid population decline is believed to be occurring as a result of habitat loss and degradation in both its breeding and its non-breeding ranges. This species’ requirement for mature primary forest within SE Asian wintering grounds suggests that it may have been especially vulnerable to recent habitat loss through the expansion of plantations in lowland regions.