The Nicobar jungle flycatcher is a species of bird in the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is endemic to the Nicobar Islands, where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests. It was at one time considered a subspecies of the brown-chested jungle flycatcher.
Region
Nicobar Islands, eastern Indian Ocean
Typical Environment
Occurs in subtropical to tropical moist lowland evergreen forests and mangrove forests across the Nicobar archipelago. Prefers dense, shaded understory with abundant leaf litter and fallen logs for gleaning arthropods. Often keeps close to streams, swampy thickets, and forest edges within intact lowland tracts. It avoids highly degraded habitats and open areas, making continuous canopy and understory structure important for its presence.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 600 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This elusive understory flycatcher is confined to India’s Nicobar Islands and was formerly treated as a subspecies of the brown-chested jungle flycatcher. It keeps to dim forest interiors and mangroves, where it sallies from low perches to snatch insects. Its restricted range makes it sensitive to habitat loss and severe weather events. Quiet and retiring, it is more often detected by its thin, whistled song than seen.
Temperament
shy and skulking
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with quick sallies from low perches
Social Behavior
Typically solitary or in pairs within territories in the forest understory. Nests are presumed cup-shaped and placed low in dense vegetation, similar to close relatives. Breeding behavior is discreet, with both adults staying close to cover. Outside the breeding season it may accompany mixed-species understory flocks but remains unobtrusive.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
A thin, high, whistled series of notes delivered from concealed perches. Calls include soft ticks and short, sibilant phrases that can be hard to localize in dense foliage.
Plumage
Plain, soft brown to olive-brown upperparts with paler, buffy underparts and a warmer brown wash across the breast; fine, neat feathering without bold patterning.
Diet
Feeds mainly on small insects and other arthropods, gleaning from leaves, twigs, and the forest floor. Makes short aerial sallies to catch flying prey and drops to leaf litter to pick invertebrates. Diet likely includes beetles, ants, spiders, and small moths.
Preferred Environment
Forages in shaded understory, along forest trails, near streams, and within mangrove thickets. It uses low to mid-level perches to launch short foraging flights and frequently returns to favored lookouts.
