Bull 27 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Panda and Sahoo Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2022) 17 (1): 27-32. https://doi.org/10.26842/binhm.7.2022.17.1.0027 SHORT COMMUNICATION FIRST RECORD OF SPOTTED FLYCATCHER MUSCICAPA STRIATA (PALLAS, 1764) (PASSERIFORMES, MUSCICAPIDAE) FROM ODISHA AND EASTERN GHATS OF INDIA Bibhu Prasad Panda*♦ and Manas Ranjan Sahoo** *Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (Post), Coimbatore 641108, Tamil Nadu, India. **OUAT Colony, Bhubaneswar 751003, Odisha, India. ♦Corresponding author E-mail: bibhuprasadpanda14@gmail.com Received Date: 24 Dec. 2021, Accepted Date: 03 February 2022, Published Date: 20 June 2022 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ABSTRACT This note reported the first record of Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata (Pallas, 1764) (Passeriformes, Muscicapidae) from the state of Odisha, India. This species was recorded from the north and western part of the country as well as from the Western Ghats, but this note reports the first record from the Eastern Ghats of India. Keywords: Eastern Ghats, First record, India, Muscicapa, Spotted Flycatcher. INTRODUCTION The spotted flycatcher Muscicapa striata (Pallas, 1764) is a small-sized (15 cm) passerine bird of the Muscicapidae family; it has a distribution range (resident or migratory) from Africa, Central Asia and Europe (Taylor, 2020). This species breeds in Western Europe to Mongolia and migrates to Africa in winter; this migration occurs through the Indian subcontinent (Bird Count India, 2021) and recorded in India as a passage migrant (Grimmett et al., 2011; Rasmussen and Anderton, 2012). While going to Africa, these birds migrate through north and western India. At the time of returning, mostly it bypasses the country like several other species (Bird Count India, 2021). This species is categorised as Least Concern in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to its high population and wide distribution range (BirdLife International, 2019). Muscicapa striata was recorded commonly in Gujarat State but there were few records from southern-west India at Pune (Iyer, 2016), Goa (Dharwadkar et al., 2017) and Tamil Nadu (Anand et al., 2017). All these records are from the Western Ghats, but there is no found from the Eastern Ghats before. In Eastern India, it is only recorded near the Sunderbans of West Bengal (eBird, 2021). This investigation presents the first sighting report of the Spotted Flycatcher M. striata from Odisha as well as Eastern Ghats. BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Iraq Natural History Research Center & Museum, University of Baghdad https://jnhm.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/BINHM/Home Online ISSN: 2311-9799 Print ISSN: 1017-8678 https://doi.org/10.26842/binhm.7.2022.17.1.0027 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1087-0080 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4217-8806 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://jnhm.uobaghdad.edu.iq/index.php/BINHM/Home 28 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM First record of spotted flycatcher NOTES AND TAXONOMIC TREATMENT On 24th April 2020, around 0845 hrs, we sighted a single individual of the species perching on an electric wire of a residential complex of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India (20.271˚N & 85.806˚E) (Map 1). This bird was recorded flying from the electric wire to the gates of the residential complex and then to the lower branches of nearby trees. This activity of this individual was recorded within 50m radius for 15 minutes in that location before it flew away. On the first day of sighting we misidentified this species as Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa dauurica (Pallas, 1811); but after seeing the photographs, we realised that this is an individual of Spotted Flycatcher M. striata. Though this bird looked like an Asian brown flycatcher with its pale grey-brown upperparts, the distinct grey brown streaking on the crown, throat and breast confirmed it as a Spotted Flycatcher. This feature differentiates it from Asian brown flycatcher and Dark Sided Flycatcher M. sibirica (Gmelin, 1789). It also had dark eyes with no eye ring, long beak with a pale bill base and black legs (Grimmett et al., 2011). An assistance was provided by senior bird researchers including Dr. Rajah Jaypal, Mr. Praveen Jayadevan and Mr. Ashwin Viswanathan to confirm the ID as Spotted Flycatcher (Pl. 1). This species may not be in the list of conservation priority because of its large population, but in the recent past, the trend of the population declined (BirdLife International, 2019). Though this species was recorded in western India with large number, its record from the eastern parts was very rare (eBird, 2021). The records from Eastern India were in January and February but at Bhubaneswar, it was recorded in April which was the only spring record in India (Bird Count India, 2021); this species recorded as winter migrant in the western parts but this record showed it as a spring migrant. Due to the only record it can be considered as a vagrant in this season, but a detailed monitoring can describe it as a spring migrant or not, to this region with the current climatic conditions. This presents the first report of this species from Odisha as well as from the Eastern Ghats as this recorded location resides in the peripheral region of Eastern Ghats. A detailed status of this species in India can be assessed after further monitoring of this species. 29 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Panda and Sahoo Map (1): Global distribution of Spotted Flycatcher (BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World, 2021) and previous records in India as red dots (eBird, 2021) with new record as green dot from Odisha. 30 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM First record of spotted flycatcher Plate (1): A Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata at Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. (Photograph by Manas Ranjan Sahoo). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors are very much thankful to Praveen Jayadevan and Ashwin Viswanathan for confirming the ID of the species. We immensely thank Dr. Rajah Jaypal for his help and support. We are also thankful to Mr. Prateek Dey and Mr. Asish Kumar for their help. The authors are also thankful to the reviewers for their valuable inputs in this manuscript. CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT "The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare". LITEREATURE CITED Anand, V., Kumar, U., Thangam, V., Narayanan, G. G. and Muthunarayanan, K. 2017. First record of Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata from Tamil Nadu, India. Indian BIRDS, 13 (2): 52-53. [Click here] Bird Count India. 2021. Migration Maps, Spotted Flycatcher. [Click here] BirdLife International. 2019. Muscicapa striata (amended version of 2018 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019. Accessed on 23 December 2021. [CrossRef] BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World. 2021. Bird species distribution maps of the world. Version 2021.1. [Click here] http://indianbirds.in/pdfs/IB_13_2_AnandETAL_SpottedFlycatcher.pdf https://birdcount.in/migration-map/spofly1/ https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22709192A155605346.en. http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/requestdis 31 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Panda and Sahoo Dharwadkar, O., Baidya, P., Lad, P., Parab, P., Bhagat, M., Niphadkar, M., Rangnekar, P. and Rangnekar, S. 2017. Spotted flycatcher Muscicapa striata: a new record for Goa, India. Indian BIRDS, 13 (1): 27-28. [Click here] eBird. 2021. eBird: an online database of bird distribution and abundance [web application]. eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Accessed on December 22. 2021). [Click here] Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and Inskipp, T. 2011. Helm field guides birds of the Indian Subcontnent. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 528pp. Iyer, R. 2016. Sighting of a spotted flycatcher Muscicapa striata in Pune. Indian BIRDS, 11(2): 50. [Click here] Rasmussen, P. C. and Anderton, J. C. 2012. Birds of South Asia: the ripley guide. 2 nd edition. Washington, D. C. and Barcelona: Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions, 2 vols, p. 1-378, p. 1-683. Taylor, B. 2020. Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), version 1.0. In: (del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A. and de Juana, E. (eds), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. [CrossRef] http://indianbirds.in/pdfs/IB_13_1_DharwadkarETAL_SpottedFlycatcher.pdf http://www.ebird.org./ https://indianbirds.in/pdfs/IB_11_2_Iyer_SpottedFlycatcher.pdf https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.spofly1.01 32 BULLETIN OF THE IRAQ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM First record of spotted flycatcher Bull. Iraq nat. Hist. Mus. (2022) 17 (1): 27-32. لطائر خاطف الذباب املرقط تسجيل أول Muscicapa striata (Pallas, 1764) (Passeriformes, Muscicapidae) من أوديشا وشرق الغاتس في الهند ** ساهو رانجان ماناس وو براساد باندا * هبيب ، 641108، كويمباتور والتاريخ الطبيعي، أنايكاتي يور * مركز سليم علي لعلم الط تاميل نادو، الهند. .أوديشا، الهند، 751003بوبانسوار ، جامعة أوريسا للزراعة والتكنولوجيا** 20/06/2022، تأريخ النشر: 03/02/2022، تأريخ القبول: 24/12/2021تأريخ االستالم: صةالخال Muscicapa striataإلى أول تسجيل لصائد الذباب املرقط الدراسةهذه اشارت (Pallas, 1764) (Passeriformes ،Muscicapidae.من والية أوديشا ، الهند ) ذ إ وكذلك من منطقة غاتس ،هذا النوع من الجزء الشمالي والغربي من البالد سجل ل سجل من منطقة غاتس الشرقية فيتشير إلى أو التحرياتولكن هذه ،الغربية الهند.