collared flycatcher

{{Short description|Species of bird}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Collared flycatcher

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author1=BirdLife International |year=2019 |title=Ficedula albicollis |volume=2019 |amends=2017 |page=e.T22709315A155539425 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-1.RLTS.T22709315A155539425.en |access-date=14 September 2024}}

| image = Collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis).jpg

| image_caption = Adult male File:DM650 Ficedula Albicollis Song Slovakia.ogg

| genus = Ficedula

| species = albicollis

| authority = (Temminck, 1815)

| range_map = FicedulaAlbicollisIUCN2019-3.png

| range_map_caption = Range of F. albicollis{{leftlegend|#00FF00|Breeding|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#00FFFF|Passage|outline=gray}} {{leftlegend|#007FFF|Non-breeding|outline=gray}}

}}

The collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family, one of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers. It breeds in southeast Europe (isolated populations are present in the islands of Gotland and Öland in the Baltic Sea, Sweden) and Eastern France to the Balkan Peninsula and Ukraine and is migratory, wintering in sub Sahara Africa.{{cite journal|last1=Briedis|first1=M.|last2=Hahn|first2=S.|last3=Gustafsson|first3=L.|last4=Henshaw|first4=I.|last5=Träff|first5=J.|last6=Král|first6=M.|last7=Adamík|first7=P.|title=Breeding latitude leads to different temporal but not spatial organization of the annual cycle in a long-distance migrant|journal=Journal of Avian Biology|volume=47|issue=6|pages=743–748|doi=10.1111/jav.01002|year=2016}} It is a rare vagrant in western Europe.

This is a 12–13.5 cm long bird. The breeding male is mainly black above and white below, with a white collar, large white wing patch, black tail (although some males have white tail sides) and a large white forehead patch. It has a pale rump. The bill is black and has the broad but pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores. As well as taking insects in flight, this species hunts caterpillars amongst the oak foliage, and will take berries.

File:Ficedula albicollis MWNH 1878.JPG]]

Non-breeding males, females and juveniles have the black replaced by a pale brown, and may be very difficult to distinguish from other Ficedula flycatchers, particularly the European pied flycatcher (F. hypoleuca) and the semicollared flycatcher (F. semitorquata), with which this species hybridizes to a limited extent.{{Cite journal |last1=Veen |first1=Thor |last2=Borge |first2=Thomas |last3=Griffith |first3=Simon C. |last4=Saetre |first4=Glenn-Peter |last5=Bures |first5=Stanislav |last6=Gustafsson |first6=Lars |last7=Sheldon |first7=Ben C. |date=May 2001 |title=Hybridization and adaptive mate choice in flycatchers |journal=Nature |volume=411 |issue=6833 |pages=45–50 |doi=10.1038/35075000|pmid=11333971 |bibcode=2001Natur.411...45V |s2cid=4415443 }} F. albicollis vis-a-vis F. hypoleuca are speciating from each other by reinforcement, as evidenced by differences between colouration in sympatry versus allopatry. This is evidence for speciation by reinforcement.{{cite journal |last1=Noor |first1=Mohamed A F |author1-link=Mohamed Noor |year=1999 |title=Reinforcement and other consequences of sympatry |journal=Heredity |publisher=The Genetics Society (Nature) |volume=83 |issue=5 |pages=503–508 |doi=10.1038/sj.hdy.6886320 |pmid=10620021 |issn=0018-067X |doi-access=free}}

They are birds of deciduous woodlands, parks and gardens, with a preference for old trees with cavities in which it nests. They build an open nest in a tree hole, or man-made nest-boxes. Normally 5-7 eggs are laid. The song is slow strained whistles, quite unlike the pied flycatcher. Pied flycatchers can mimic the song of the collared flycatcher in sympatric populations.{{Cite journal |last1=Haavie |first1=J. |last2=Borge |first2=T. |last3=Bures |first3=S. |last4=Garamszegi |first4=L. Z. |last5=Lampe |first5=H. M. |last6=Moreno |first6=J. |last7=Qvarnström |first7=A. |last8=Török |first8=J. |last9=Saetre |first9=G.-P. |date=2004-01-29 |title=Flycatcher song in allopatry and sympatry - convergence, divergence and reinforcement |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=227–237 |doi=10.1111/j.1420-9101.2003.00682.x|pmid=15009256 |s2cid=39765035 |hdl=10067/1032470151162165141 |hdl-access=free }}

The genus name is from Latin and refers to a small fig-eating bird (ficus, "fig") supposed to change into the blackcap in winter. The specific albicollis is from Latin albus, white, and collum, "neck".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location = London, United Kingdom | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n38 38], 167}}.

The collared flycatcher is used as a model species in both ecology and genetics and it was one of the first birds that had its full genome sequenced.{{Cite journal|last1=Ellegren|first1=Hans|last2=Smeds|first2=Linnéa|last3=Burri|first3=Reto|last4=Olason|first4=Pall I.|last5=Backström|first5=Niclas|last6=Kawakami|first6=Takeshi|last7=Künstner|first7=Axel|last8=Mäkinen|first8=Hannu|last9=Nadachowska-Brzyska|first9=Krystyna|date=24 October 2012|title=The genomic landscape of species divergence in Ficedula flycatchers|journal=Nature|language=En|volume=491|issue=7426|pages=756–760|doi=10.1038/nature11584|pmid=23103876|bibcode=2012Natur.491..756E|issn=0028-0836|doi-access=free}} Repeated spectrometric data taken from male Collared Flycatchers has revealed that plumage reflectance should be measured during courtship, the primary period of sexual signalling, with spectral traits declining over the breeding season.{{cite journal | author1= Hegyi, G. |author2= Laczi, M. | author3= Boross, N. | author4= Jablonsky, M. | author5= Kötél, D. |author6= Krenhardt, K. | author7= Markó, M. |author8= Nagy, G. | author9= Rosivall, B. |author10= Szász , E. | author11= Garamszegi, L.Z. | author12= Török, J. | year=2019| title= When to measure plumage reflectance: a lesson from Collared Flycatchers Ficedula albicollis | journal=Ibis| volume=161| pages= 27–34 | doi= 10.1111/ibi.12648| issue=1| doi-access= free }}

In a natural population of F. albicollis inbreeding appeared to be rare, but when it did occur it had severe negative consequences for fitness characteristics such as hatching success rate.{{Cite journal |last1=Kruuk |first1=Loeske E. B. |last2=Sheldon |first2=Ben C. |last3=Merilä |first3=Juha |date=2002-08-07 |title=Severe inbreeding depression in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) |journal=Proceedings. Biological Sciences |volume=269 |issue=1500 |pages=1581–1589 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2002.2049 |pmc=1691074 |pmid=12184828}}