Tanimbar Flycatcher Ficedula riedeli Scientific name definitions

11–12 cm. Medium-sized slim, upright flycatcher with relatively large bill. Male has long, rather broad white supercilium, and black crown, head-sides and upperparts, including upperwing and tail; tips of median coverts white, inner greater upperwing-coverts white and edges of inner tertials white (forming panel), and bases of outer rectrices white (inner web of outermost rectrix all white); throat whitish with orange tinge, breast and upper flanks rufous-orange, richest on breast, rest of underparts white; iris dark brown, blue eyelid; bill black; legs pinkish grey to blackish. Female apparently undescribed, presumably much as female F. dumetoria. Juvenile undescribed.

Tanimbar Is (Larat, Yamdena), E Lesser Sundas.

Diet almost unknown; presumaby small invertebrates, as with that of F. dumetoria. Usually singly or in pairs, but on Yamdena recorded also in mixed-species flocks with fantails (Rhipidura) and Tanimbar Bush-warbler (Horornis carolinae). Generally inconspicuous; forages low down in dense vegetation. Pursues insects in flight.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Restricted-range species: confined to a single island group within the Banda Sea Islands EBA. Fairly common; locally common on Yamdena. Despite its highly restricted global range, this species is thought not to be at any immediate risk. Nevertheless, it is believed to be declining as a result of habitat loss (which has occurred widely in the region, in some cases with devastating loss of wildlife). There is an urgent need for surveys to be carried out with the aim of estimating this flycatcher’s population size and determing the rate at which it is declining, following which an effective programme for protecting suitable areas of habitat should be initiated.