Moluccan Flycatcher Myiagra galeata Scientific name definitions

14 cm. Small myiagra. Male nominate race is dark grey above, with dark greenish crown, darker on forehead, lores and ear-coverts; entirely white below; iris dark; bill and legs dark grey. Female is like male but with pale rufous wash on throat and breast , brownish tinge on upperparts. Juvenile resembles female. Race buruensis has crown and forehead dark grey, as back, and lores and ear-coverts greyer; <em>goramensis</em> has crown little darker than back and glossed greenish.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Wooded habitats; often found in second growth and coastal scrub, also forest in coastal lowlands and hills, forest patches and coconut groves on coastal islets. Sea-level to 150 m, occasionally to c. 450 m on Halmahera, to 800 m on Buru, to 940 m on Seram.

Sedentary.

Known to be insectivorous, but few other data available. Usually in pairs; joins mixed-species feeding flocks. Active canopy forager, but comes lower at forest edge and when with mixed flocks.

Nominate race on Halmahera has loud series of monotonous single whistles, “teu-teu-teu-teu…”, frequent call a series of rapid medium-pitch “wik” notes which begins with 2 notes, pauses briefly and then followed by 6 similar notes; on Obi, a repetitive harsh rasping “skwech” and a rapid high-pitched “tip-tip-tip-tip” series. Race goramensis on Seram gives loud, moderately high-pitched, downslurred “tiuw” as rapid sequence of 4 notes; on Ambon also a nasal rasping 2-note call repeated with slight gap, and a repeated 2-note plaintive call that ends incisively.

Pair observed while attending a nest in N Seram in mid-Jun, nest placed 4·5 m up on horizontal limb; on Halmahera, nest found in Apr was a ragged, loose cup of twiggy tendrils, 7–8m up in fork of horizontal limb; on Obi, pair apparently incubating in Jul, nest being in an isolated tree c. 12 m above the ground, constructed of neatly woven plant fibres mixed with bark and lichen (1 Mittermeier, J.C., Cottee-Jones, H.E.W., Purba, E.C., Ashuri, N.M., Hesdianti, E. and Supriatna, J. (2013). A survey of the avifauna of Obi Island, North Moluccas, Indonesia. Forktail. 29: 128–137. Close ); also on Obi, pair apparently incubating in Dec (2 Reeve, A.H., Mittermeier, J.C., Fabre, P.-H., Rosyadi, I., Kennedy, J.D. and Haryoko, T. (2015). New additions to the avifauna of Obi island, Indonesia, with comments on migration and breeding seasonality of Moluccan birds. Forktail. 31: 98–102. Close ). No other information.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Restricted-range species: present in Banda Sea Islands EBA, Buru EBA, Seram EBA and Northern Maluku EBA. Common on Halmahera, fairly common on Obi; race goramensis fairly common on Seram, buruensis uncommon on Buru. Potential threats include logging and shifting cultivation, causing destruction of wooded habitats.