White-gorgeted Flycatcher    Anthipes monileger

Etymology :

  • Anthipes : Latin word Anthus– small bird that inhabited grasslands; pes  –foot
  • Monileger : Latin word monile – necklace, collar; ger – carrying { With a collar}
      • Leucops : Greek word leukos -white; ōps- face, eye.

Vernacular Names: Lepcha: Phatt-tagrak-pho, Naga: Inrephatki 

Sub species: 

  1. Nominate- Central & East Himalayas from Nepal to Bhutan and North East India (Arunachal Pradesh)
  2. m. leucops – North East India (South & East Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland) {has paler grey face and whiter supercilium}

 

Distribution in India:

  1. Nominate- Central & East Himalayas from Nepal to Bhutan and North East India (Arunachal Pradesh)
  2. m. leucops – North East India (South & East Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland)

Description: Size of 11·5–13 cm; wt. of 11 g. It is a small brown forest flycatcher with short tail, large head and brilliant white throat. The nominate race has dull olive brown head and upperparts, face is slightly greyer, with pale lores, poorly defined buffish supercilium fading behind eye, slightly warmer brown tail. The chin and throat are pure white with narrow black border, underparts are dull olive, washed buffish on flanks, whiter centre of belly. The iris is dark; bill is dark horn or blackish; legs are pink or pinkish-brown. Both the sexes are alike. The juvenile lacks white chin and throat, has brown upperparts heavily streaked buffish, buff tips of greater coverts forming indistinct wingbar, buffish underparts streaked with brown. Race leucops has paler grey face and whiter supercilium than nominate.

Habitat: It is found in moist broadleaf forest, also lush vegetation along streams, scrubby ravines, dense bushes, and bamboo. It breeds at 915–3000 m. In non-breeding season it is found in similar habitat at lower altitudes, down to 600 m.

Food habits: It eats small invertebrates. It is found usually solitary or in pairs. It is shy, skulking, and secretive, keeping mostly to dense cover. It forages in dense undergrowth or in lower levels of forest trees. It occasionally makes short aerial pursuit of insects. It flicks and spreads tail when perched.

Breeding habits: They breed Apr to Jun in NE India. The nest is a ball of grass and leaves, placed in undergrowth on bank or low down in bush. They lay a clutch of 4 eggs.