European pied flycatcher
Ficedula hypoleuca
A small black-and-white flycatcher with a bold white wing patch. Confirmed in Georgia as a passage migrant on the 2024 national bird checklist; it is not listed as a breeding bird. Named photographs on this page are from Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, 31 May 2015.
Overview
What is European pied flycatcher
The European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) is a small Old World flycatcher (family Muscicapidae) confirmed in Georgia as a passage migrant. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia codes it M: a bird of passage, present mainly in spring and autumn. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A). Occurrence quality is high (H), with photographs. It is not coded BB (breeding bird). Adults are about 12–13.5 cm long at species level. It is not a threat to people. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The 2024 checklist assigns the same category nationally.
Last updated
Gallery
European pied flycatcher in photos
Photo: ზაური ხაჩიძე
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park ·
Photo: ზაური ხაჩიძე
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park ·
Photo: ზაური ხაჩიძე
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park ·
Photo: Enel Lepik
Photo: Crowbared
Finland ·
Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Shai Hills ·
Photo: TRinaud
Lac du Cébron ·
Photo: Luiz Lapa
Salvaterra de Magos ·
Photo: Jerzy Strzelecki
Łódź ·
Photo: Matti Virtala
Oulu ·
Identification
How to identify European pied flycatcher
A sparrow-sized flycatcher with a large white wing patch. Breeding males are black above and white below, without a full white collar. In Georgia it is a passage migrant on the 2024 checklist. The usual confusion is semi-collared and collared flycatcher.
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Length about 12–13.5 cm and wingspan about 21–24 cm at species level. Mass is often given around 10–15 g. The bill is fine and dark. Both sexes show a conspicuous white patch on the closed wing. Breeding males are typically black on the head and back, white below, with a white forehead spot; they lack a complete white neck-collar. The rump is dark, not a broad white saddle. Some males are brownish rather than jet-black; that is a known plumage variant, not a different species.
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Adult females and many autumn birds are olive-brown or grey-brown above and paler below, still with a clear white wing patch and no rusty breast. Juveniles are similar to females, often with paler spotting. In Georgia, most encounters are likely to be brown birds on passage, not black-and-white spring males. The call is a short, sharp note; this page does not treat call as a standalone identification in mixed Ficedula flocks.
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Semi-collared flycatcher (Ficedula semitorquata) is the black-and-white Ficedula coded as a breeding bird and migrant (BB; M) on the 2024 Georgian checklist. Breeding males show a broken or incomplete white collar and usually a second pale wing-bar of white-tipped median coverts; they also tend to show more white on the tail. Collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis) is also a passage migrant (M) in Georgia: breeding males have a complete white collar and a large white rump. Females and autumn birds of all three are difficult; a brown flycatcher on passage in Georgia should not be named to species from a poor view. Red-breasted flycatcher (Ficedula parva) is a breeding migrant (BB; M): adult males have a rusty throat, not a pied back. Spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) is also a breeding migrant: streaked grey-brown, without a large white wing patch. This atlas has a page for semi-collared flycatcher; it does not yet have separate pages for collared, red-breasted, or spotted flycatcher.
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It is not a threat to people. Leave it alone. A black-and-white flycatcher in Georgian woodland in June is more likely semi-collared than this species, on the 2024 checklist.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
In Georgia look for it on spring and autumn passage, not as a summer nesting bird and not in winter. Named record on this page: Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, 31 May 2015 (photographs by ზაური ხაჩიძე). The 2024 checklist confirms country-level migrant status but does not publish a regional gazetteer. Do not assume it occurs evenly across Georgia. Species-level habitat on migration is woodland and edge: deciduous or mixed forest, parks, gardens, scrub, and similar trees where flying insects can be taken from a perch. A separate national elevation band for Georgia is not published here.
Diet
There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range it takes insects and other small invertebrates, often by sallying from a perch into the air or foliage. Caterpillars and other prey are taken in the breeding range; that is species-level feeding, not a measured Georgian menu.
Behavior
It is active by day. The male’s song, on the breeding grounds, is a short whistled phrase of repeated notes; calls include a sharp “whit” or “witt”. Full song is less the expected cue on Georgian passage than a small flycatcher hawking insects from a tree. It is a long-distance migrant: it breeds across much of Europe and western Siberia and winters mainly in tropical Africa. Georgia lies on passage, not on the mapped breeding core of the species. Cavity nesting, nest boxes, and typical clutches of about five to seven eggs with incubation of about 13–15 days are species-level facts from the breeding range. The 2024 checklist does not treat the species as a breeder in Georgia. The late-May photographs from Borjomi-Kharagauli fall on spring passage.
Conservation
BirdLife International assesses Ficedula hypoleuca as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Parts of the European population have declined, but the global range is large and the species does not meet a higher threat category. EUNIS reports Least Concern in Europe and notes EU Birds Directive coverage; that instrument does not apply in Georgia. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190). The 2024 Georgian bird checklist assigns global and national Red List category LC. A Georgia-specific population trend is not quantified on this page. Do not catch or keep wild birds.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about European pied flycatcher.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia lists it as a confirmed passage migrant (M), with photographs. It is not listed there as a breeding bird.
On spring and autumn passage, in woodland, parks, and other trees with flying insects. Named photographs on this page are from Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park on 31 May 2015. This page does not map every region.
Small flycatcher with a large white wing patch. Breeding males are black above and white below, without a full white collar. Females and autumn birds are brown with the same wing patch. Semi-collared and collared flycatchers are the usual confusion; both also occur in Georgia.
About 12–13.5 cm long at species level, with a wingspan of about 21–24 cm and mass often around 10–15 g. A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page.
Insects and other small invertebrates, often caught in short flights from a perch. Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia on this page.
Mainly in spring and autumn, according to the 2024 checklist definition of M. It is not treated there as a winter visitor or as a summer breeder. Exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia are not tabulated on this page. The photographs here are from 31 May.
Not on the 2024 checklist, which codes it only as a migrant (M). The black-and-white Ficedula listed as a breeding bird in Georgia on that list is semi-collared flycatcher (Ficedula semitorquata).
It is harmless. It is globally Least Concern and is coded LC nationally on the 2024 checklist. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List. Do not catch wild birds.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- BirdLife DataZone — European Pied Flycatcher
- IUCN Red List — Ficedula hypoleuca
- EUNIS — Ficedula hypoleuca
- IOC World Bird List
- Avibase — Georgia bird checklist
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- ინგლისურ-ქართული ბიოლოგიური ლექსიკონი — Ficedula
- RSPB — Pied flycatcher
- eBird — European Pied Flycatcher
- Kirwan et al. 2025 — Birds of the World (Ficedula hypoleuca)
- Wikimedia Commons — Must-kärbsenäpp (Enel Lepik, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — female, Finland (Crowbared, CC BY 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — non-breeding male, Ghana (Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — autumn bird, Lac du Cébron (TRinaud, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — female, Portugal (Luiz Lapa, CC BY 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Łódź (Jerzy Strzelecki, CC BY 3.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Oulu (Matti Virtala, CC0)
- Wikimedia Commons — XC486275 song (Olivier Grimm, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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