I am reading with interest the discussion on the Myiagra flycatcher seen by Tom Tarrant in Darwin. This immediately rang a bell with me, as it matched very well a bird I saw in Timber Creek on 14 September 2000 during a long birding holiday from UK.
My notes made at the time were brief, and as follows:
” cf. Satin Flycatcher – notably dark blue-black and glossy plumage, dark breast more extensive than on Leaden, not sharply differentiated from whitish underparts, but boundary marked by band of large, dark blotches. Location – densely wooded stream running along the back of the caravan park at Timber Creek. Bird confined itself to the darkest areas, flitting about on usually low branches along and above the stream up to c. 10 ft above ground.”
Typical Leaden Flycatchers were present in the dry, open woodland beyond the creek, so a direct comparison could be made.
I’m attaching a copy of the tiny, 3 cm high sketch I quickly made in my notebook at the time. Not very good, I’m afraid, and probably the blotchiness is rather exaggerated, but at least it gives a notion of what the breast looked like.
I had previously observed Satin in NSW, VIC and QLD and Leaden in NSW, QLD and elsewhere in NT – in 1994 and 2000.
Martin Wigginton
