Devon Wildlife Trust The pied flycatcher is a small, black-and-white bird of mature woodland, parks and gardens, with a preference for oak trees.
It is a summer visitor from April and May onwards, and breeds mainly in western areas; it spends the winter in West Africa.
Pied flycatchers may be seen sitting patiently on a perch, waiting for a chance to fly out and catch their insect-prey mid-air. They also search for insects on tree trunks and on the ground.
How to Identify
The pied flycatcher is slightly smaller than a house sparrow. Males are mostly black above and white below, with a bold white patch on the folded wing. Females have the same basic patterning, but are browner in colour.
RSPB The pied flycatcher is a small, flycatching bird, slightly smaller than a house sparrow. The male is mostly black on the upperparts and white underneath, with a bold white patch on the folded wing. Females are browner.
It is a summer visitor and breeds mainly in western areas, spending the winter in West Africa.
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/pied-flycatcher/
Devon Birds: Search the Devon Birds website for recent sightings of Pied Flycatchers in Devon.
PiedFly.Net is a science based non-profit organisation co-ordinating community participation in monitoring Pied Flycatchers and other hole-nesting woodland birds to contribute to science and monitoring projects.
The network co-ordinates monitoring of nest box schemes with breeding populations of Pied Flycatchers across southwest England. Previously only a small number of these nest box schemes contributed data to national monitoring programs, but since 2011 the network has brought all this information together to share with national schemes and the scientific community.
https://twitter.com/piedflynet (1.1k)
Wikipedia: The European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. One of the four species of Western Palearctic black-and-white flycatchers, it hybridizes to a limited extent with the collared flycatcher. It breeds in most of Europe and across the Western Palearctic. It is migratory, wintering mainly in tropical Africa. It usually builds its nests in holes on oak trees. This species practices polygyny, usually bigamy, with the male travelling large distances to acquire a second mate. The male will mate with the secondary female and then return to the primary female in order to help with aspects of child rearing, such as feeding.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ficedula_hypoleuca_Haukipudas_20120610_02.JPG
The European pied flycatcher is mainly insectivorous, although its diet also includes other arthropods. This species commonly feeds on spiders, ants, bees and similar prey.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ficedula_hypoleuca_-Finland_-female-8.jpg
The European pied flycatcher has a very large range and population size and so it is of least concern according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FicedulaHypoleucaIUCN2019-3.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pied_flycatcher
eBird: Fairly common to uncommon summer migrant from winter grounds in Africa. Found in shady, mixed and deciduous woodland, especially with oaks. Feeds at all levels, sallying after insects in the leafy foliage; at times perches out on open fences. Breeding male is boldly pied, with big white wing patch and white forehead spot. Female and immature are brown above, with obvious white wing patch. Distinctive in western Europe, but farther east compare with very similar Collared and Semi-collared Flycatchers.
