Although the behavior of M. sodhii remains poorly known, scattered documentation from local and visiting birdwatchers have allowed some aspects of foraging behavior and breeding ecology to be established. Like some other closely related Muscicapa flycatchers, M. sodhii appears to be an obligate insectivore that forages inconspicuously at all levels but perhaps mainly mid-levels. During our field work in 2011 and 2012, we observed single individuals sallying for flying insects, including large damselflies, from perches from several feet above ground to the subcanopy. Other known prey items as inferred from published photographs include orthopterans, including katydids (www.orientalbirdimages.org). Observations from other birdwatchers (e.g. Luijendijk 1997; de Boer 2004; Hendriks 2012) indicate that the species may sporadically participate in mixed foraging flocks with other small passerines such as whistlers and white-eyes.
We did not observe breeding during our field work in May–Jun, but breeding details have been reported in three birdwatching trip reports. Farrow and Robson (2009) and Hutchinson (2009) observed adult birds attending single juveniles at Bantimurung-Bulusaraung in early Oct, while Hutchinson (2011) reported one adult feeding a juvenile adjacent to Lore Lindu National Park near Wuasa in late Sep. The fact that breeding has only been reported in Sep–Oct despite multiple records (n = 17) from every month from Apr to Oct in the Lore Lindu and Bantimurung areas suggests that breeding, at least in central-south Sulawesi, may coincide with the start of the monsoon season. In North Sulawesi, the species is known to breed in May based on photographs deposited in the Oriental Birds Image database (www.orientalbirdimages.org) of a fledgling documented in May 2009.
Luijendijk TJC (1997) Bird observations in Sulawesi & Halmahera in July/August 1997. Available: http://www.warbler.phytoconsult.nl/celrap2.htm. Accessed 2014 March 15.
de Boer M (2004) Birdwatching trip report from Sulawesi and Halmahera, 2–26 August 2004. Available: http://home.zonnet.nl/michiel.1/sulawesi/sulawesi.htm. Accessed 2014 March 15.
Hendriks H (2012) A report on birds seen on a trip to Sulawesi from 18 July to 5 August 2012. Available: http://www.cloudbirders.com. Accessed 2014 March 15
Farrow D, Robson C (2009) Sulawesi and Halmahera. Birdquest trip report. Available: http://www.birdquest-tours.com/pdfs/report/SULAWESI%20REP%2009.pdf. Accessed 2013 October 12.
Hutchinson R (2009) Sulawesi and Halmahera, 27 September to 16 October 2009. Available: http://www.birdtourasia.com/pdf%20Reports/Birdtour%20Asia%20Sulawesi%20Halmahera%20Oct%2009.pdf. Accessed 2014 March 15.
Hutchinson R (2011) Sulawesi and Halmahera, 25 September to 16 October 2011. Available: http://www.birdtourasia.com/pdf%20Reports/Birdtour%20Asia%20Sulawesi%20and%20Halmahera%20Oct%202011.pdf. Accessed 2014 April 1.
(From Harris et al. 2014)
The Indonesian island of Sulawesi, a globally important hotspot of avian endemism, has been relatively poorly studied ornithologically, to the extent that several new bird species from the region have been described to science only recently, and others have been observed and photographed, but never before collected or named to science. One of these is Muscicapa sodhii, a new species of flycatcher that has been observed on several occasions since 1997. Harris et al. 2014 collected two specimens in Central Sulawesi in 2012, and based on a combination of morphological, vocal and genetic characters, described Muscicapa sodii as a new species more than 15 years after the first observations.
Muscicapa sodhii is superficially similar to the highly migratory, boreal-breeding Gray-streaked Flycatcher Muscicapa griseisticta, which winters in Sulawesi; however, the new species differs strongly from M. griseisticta in several morphological characters, song, and mtDNA. Based on mtDNA, the new species is only distantly related to M. griseisticta, instead being a member of the M. dauurica clade. Muscicapa sodhii tends to forage in the forest mid-levels and subcanopy.
(From Harris et al. 2014)
The fairly wide elevational and distributional range of M. sodhii, and its tolerance of habitat disturbance indicate that it is not immediately at high risk from logging or habitat conversion, which is ongoing in Sulawesi's lowlands and, increasingly, highlands (Miettinen et al. 2011; Harris et al. 2014; Clough 2009; Martin and Blackburn 2010). The species probably does not occur in young cacao monoculture, or where remnant forest trees are not preserved. It is a low-density species in the Lore Lindu National Park area and it appears to be uncommon elsewhere in Sulawesi, given that the species was only reported in 17 of 51 birdwatching reports we sampled since its first documentation in 1997. Nonetheless, the paucity of reports may be partly because the species had not yet been formally described. Present knowledge suggests the species does not approach the thresholds for ‘Vulnerable’ under the IUCN's range size or inferred population trend criteria (IUCN 2001). We propose that the species be placed in the ‘Least Concern’ category.
Persistence of the species in small forest patches in a mosaic of cacao plantations over 15 years in Baku Bakulu shows that M. sodhii tolerates some level of disturbance and fragmentation. Our limited data however do not allow us to infer if disturbed habitats are preferred over primary forest. The scientific description of the species, including its voice, should allow comparative surveys to be done in forests and disturbed areas to learn about the species' habitat preferences. Furthermore, it should be a priority to survey poorly-sampled areas such as Sulawesi's eastern and southeastern peninsulas to collect distributional information on M. sodhii. Taxonomic studies are also needed to evaluate whether populations on Sulawesi's northern and southern peninsulas are distinct from Central Sulawesi birds. Many Sulawesi bird genera have racially or specifically distinct representatives that are allopatric on the island's peninsulas (e.g., Heinrichia, Zosterops, and Ficedula, among others), and it is possible that more than one taxon of Muscicapa is resident on the extraordinarily complex island of Sulawesi.
Miettinen J, Shi C, Liew SC (2011) Deforestation rates in insular Southeast Asia between 2000 and 2010. Global Change Biol 17:2261–2270. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02398.x
Harris JBC, Dwi Putra D, Gregory SD, Brook BW, Prawiradilaga DM, et al. (2014) Rapid deforestation threatens mid-elevational endemic birds but climate change is most important at higher elevations. Divers Distrib 20:773–785. doi: 10.1111/ddi.12180
Martin T, Blackburn G (2010) Impacts of tropical forest disturbance upon avifauna on a small island with high endemism: implications for conservation. Conserv Soc 8:127–139. doi: 10.4103/0972-4923.68914
IUCN (2001) International Union for the Conservation of Nature. IUCN Red List categories and criteria. Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. Available: http://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 2008 November 8.
(From Harris et al. 2014)
A small, drab gray-brown muscicapid flycatcher with indistinct facial patterning, strong dusky streaking below, and short primary projection. Differs from Muscicapa griseisticta in having the bill longer and more strongly hooked but relatively less broad; a weaker face pattern, with indistinct pale eyering (vs. prominent), dark spotting on throat (vs. mostly white throat), an ill-defined malar stripe and no pale moustachial stripe (vs. strong); much shorter and more rounded wing; shorter undertail coverts; and shorter, slightly more notched tail. Differs from Muscicapa sibirica in its longer, deeper, and, in Sino-Himalayan forms of M. sibirica, broader bill, much weaker head and throat pattern, much clearer streaking below, on a whitish background (vs. mostly dark background, especially in Sino-Himalayan forms); much shorter primary projection and first primary; shorter undertail coverts; and compared to M. s. sibirica, shorter and less notched tail. Differs from all forms of Muscicapa dauurica, as well as M. segregata and M. randi, especially in the strongly streaked underparts of M. sodhii. Differs additionally from M. dauurica in its shorter primary projection (longer only than M. d. umbrosa) and its more strongly hooked and, compared to M. d. dauurica, narrower bill; from M. randi and M. segregata in its shorter tail, less extensive pale area on lower mandible, and longer undertail coverts, and from M. segregata in its narrower bill and shorter tarsi.
The song of the new species is higher-pitched than that of all similar Asian species, and differs from them additionally in its combination of relatively narrow bandwidth, few note repetitions, mostly clear, longer notes, few harmonics, and low similarity between adjacent strophes.
(From Harris et al. 2014)
The distribution of M. sodhii is poorly known. It is evidently widely distributed in lowland and submontane forest throughout Sulawesi. This wide distribution coupled with the species' apparent tolerance of disturbed habitats suggests it is not currently threatened with extinction.
The elevational range of Muscicapa sodhii is mainly within an elevational band of 150 m asl to 1,200 m in lowland and submontane evergreen forest and disturbed habitats. There are few records at higher elevations; the occasional observations of the species at Badeaha and Danau Tambing at c. 1,700 m may be exceptional and could involve post-breeding dispersal. While approximately half of the records are from primary lowland and submontane forests, the frequency of records (including that of the holotype and paratype) in disturbed habitats indicates that the species is tolerant of disturbance. It appears likely, however, that when it occurs in cacao plantations it requires the presence of at least scattered mature native forest trees.
(From Harris et al. 2014)
