Matinan Flycatcher Eumyias sanfordi Scientific name definitions

14.5 cm. Small to medium-sized, robust and large-eyed brown flycatcher with broad-based bill fine at tip. Has gray crown to nape, becoming more gray-brown on upperparts , including upperwing, which has rufous edges of tertials; rufous-olive on rump and tail; lores to eye blackish, small whitish patch on upper lores; mostly pale gray or ash-gray below, with inlinemedia; iris dark brown; upper mandible dark brown to blackish, lower mandible pinkish horn; legs black. Sexes alike. Juvenile undescribed.

Formerly placed in Cyornis.

Minahasa Peninsula, in northern Sulawesi.

Primary hill and montane broadleaf evergreen forest , including selectively logged areas, between 1300 m and 1780 m.

Resident; may make short-distance altitudinal movements.

Diet largely undescribed; includes small invertebrates. Usually solitary , but recorded in mixed-species flocks. Inconspicuous. Forages in undergrowth and lower to middle levels of forest, by sallying after flying insects; often ponderous, and sits motionless for long periods.

Song , for up 30 minutes from same perch, a series of rapid, thin and clear or subdued notes, varying in pitch, titititutititititi­tuti, duration up ca. 9 seconds; may give slower version with each note emphasized, ti-ti-ti-tu-ti-ti-ti-ti-tu-ti.

Only one nest found, in November, ca. 3 m above ground in cavity of dead tree trunk. No other information.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Formerly considered Endangered. Restricted-range species: present in Sulawesi Endemic Bird Area. Rare, but little known; elusive and inconspicuous. Recorded in Tentolo-Matinan Mountains, at two sites in Dumoga-Bone National Park (Mount Kabila and Mount Muajat), and in Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve ; recently recorded on Mount Banga (ca. 2 km southeast of Mount Ambang), where considered to be moderately common. The species’ very small global range and the continuing habitat degradation and destruction within it, particularly at lower altitudes, present a long term threat.