Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2019 | 11(9): 14232–14234

First record of the Blue-and-white Flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana (Temminck, 1829) (Aves: Passeriformes: Muscicapidae) from Bhutan

Kado Rinchen ¹, Kinley Kinley ², Chhimi Dorji ³ & Dorji Wangmo ⁴

¹ Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, Department of Forest and Park Services, Bhutan.

^2,3 Tsirang Forest Division, Department of Forest and Park Services, Bhutan.

² Landscape Ecology and Nature Conservation, University of Greifswald, Greifswald 17489, Germany.

⁴ Damphu Lower secondary School, Ministry of Education, Bhutan.

¹ kado.rinchen@gmail.com (corresponding author), ² kinley@moaf.gov.bt, ³ chhimidorji@moaf.gov.bt, ⁴ dorjiwangmo146@education.gov.bt

doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4608.11.9.14232-14234 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:2ADDBC8A-9954-4BDD-A902-B06168F7C2E0

Editor: Carol Inskipp, Bishop Auckland Co., Durham, UK. Date of publication: 26 July 2019 (online & print)

Manuscript details: #4608 | Received 03 October 2018 | Final received 09 April 2019 | Finally accepted 28 June 2019

Citation: Rinchen, K., K. Kinley, C. Dorji & D. Wangmo (2019). First record of the Blue-and-white Flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana (Temminck, 1829) (Aves: Passeriformes: Muscicapidae) from Bhutan. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(9): 14232–14234. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.4608.11.9.14232-14234

Copyright: © Rinchen et al 2019. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publication.

Funding: Royal Government of Bhutan, Department of Forest and Park Services.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements: We are thankful to Mr. Phento Tshering, director of Department of Forest and Park Services, Mr. Sacha Dorji, director of Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Educational Research, Bhutan, Mr. Pankay Drukpa, chief forestry officer of Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, and Mrs. Dimple Thapa, chief forestry officer of Tsirang Forest Division, Bhutan for supporting us in writing this article.

The Blue-and-white Flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana is known to be a summer visitor to northeastern Asia, moving towards the south during winter to Taiwan, southeastern China, and southeastern Asia, through the Greater Sunda Islands to the Philippines (Clement & Taylor 2006). It is a recent addition to the South Asian avifaunal database. It is not listed in Ali & Ripley (1987), Rasmussen & Anderton (2005), or Grimmett et al. (2011).

According to Choudhury (2006) the bird has been observed on rare occasions in northeast India and was sighted once 16 years ago on 24 November 2002 in Upper Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh in India.

In the past, this species has been reported from several isolated localities in the Indian subcontinent; nine locations in India as reported by Choudhury (2006), Kawale (2013), Rajeshkumar et al. (2014), Barve & Kamath (2016), Bhoopathy & Indrajith (2016), Praveen et al. (2016), and one record in Sri Lanka (Vidanapathirana et al. 2014).

During patrolling duty in Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park on 14 April 2018, a male Blue-and-white Flycatcher was observed and photographed at an elevation of 1,610m on abandoned land at Dimba Village (27.419⁰N & 90.469⁰E) under Tangsibji Block in Trongsa District. It was observed perching on a tree in a broadleaved forest with vegetation dominated by Quercus grifithii, along with other broadleaved species like Lyonia spp., Rhus spp., Dog wood, Bahunia spp., Erythina spp., and Alnus spp.. Several small clumps of bamboo were also observed in and around the bird observation area.

After referring to several online websites such as Birdlife International, ebird and circulation of the photographs amongst many birdwatchers through the social media facebook forum Birds of Bhutan, the bird was initially identified as a male Blue-and-white Flycatcher by Tim Inskipp and was later confirmed by Dr. Sherub, ornithologist at Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Educational Research Institute in Bhutan. It is the first record for the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The new record adds the 729^th bird species for Bhutan (Dr. Sherub pers. comm. April 2018). With this observation, the Blue-and-White Flycatcher is known to occur in three countries of the Indian subcontinent. Clement & Taylor (2006) described the Blue-and-White Flycatcher as a passage migrant through southern and southeastern China between early or mid-December to mid-February and returning to its breeding sites through Guangdong from mid to late March. This Bhutan record proves that the Blue-and-white Flycatcher can migrate as late as mid-April. Possibly, while on their return migration, a few birds might sojourn in various places in Bhutan or elsewhere in the subcontinent’s mainland before reaching their breeding grounds. There could be other undetected incidences of migrant species’ occurrence in the country and it would be useful if more observations were carried out during bird migration seasons to discover such instances. The development of a long-term bird monitoring protocol for Bhutan to ensure the survival of all residents and migratory birds is recommended.

For figure & image – click here

References

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