This is the 91st article in an ongoing series that highlights the riches of Pigeon Valley, the urban nature reserve in the heart of Glenwood. The focus of this article is on the Ashy Flycatcher.
This is a quietly inconspicuous favourite of mine; it is easy to overlook, with its modest colour scheme that includes a dark brown eye, white eye-ring, smoothly light grey front and darker grey back. Previously it was known as a Blue-Grey Flycatcher, but ‘ashy’ captures better the shade of its back.
The one in the photo was close by, resting briefly in a Giant-leaved Fig (Ficus lutea) from dashing back and forth during an alate (flying ant) emergence. Very often, though, I hear their distinctive descending tchi-tchi-tchi-tchi somewhere near me and get only a glimpse of the bird.
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Ashy Flycatchers are typically less common than their close relatives, the Dusky Flycatchers. Both hawk insects with great enthusiasm. What limits the numbers, perhaps, is that they do not adjust easily to alien vegetation, a reminder that the future of so many of our birds depends on the preservation of their habitats.
Crispin Hemson chairs the Friends of Pigeon Valley, a group that undertakes clearing of alien plants, keeps records of bird and mammal sightings and alerts management to any problems.
The Friends have a monthly walk at 7.30am on the second Saturday of each month. Email: friendsofpigeonvalley1@gmail.com.
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