Zappey's Flycatcher(?), Shanghai, China (1 Viewer)

[thirudevaram]

Saw this individual on September, to the naked eye it looked like the Blue and White Flycatcher but checking the photos later, the breast isn't as black as the Blue and White Flycatcher. Is this a Zappey's?

Back in 2012, i did encounter a similar individual which for the naked eye din't look blue breasted but the photo shows considerably lighter blue on the breast. 2nd photo is the individual from 2012.

Appreciate the help.

 

[Owen Krout]

For what it is worth and you probably already saw this, but the Hong Kong Bird Watchers Society's Forum has what they ID as B&W that have the lighter blue breast. http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/viewthread.php?tid=14042

Personally, I keep going back and forth also. If you hadn't mentioned Zappey's, I would have been fine with B&W. Out of range isn't it, Dev? But then escaped/released cage bird would probably survive.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

The breast doesn't seem nearly as dark as B&W, even the HKBWS bird.

I'd be willing to go Zappey's on this one, Dev, but bear in mind, I've never seen a Zappey's in the wild.

 

[andyb39]

Neither have I but the 2018 bird looks just too blue on the breast for Blue-and-white. I'm not sure about the 2012 bird, as I'm having difficult assessing the true colour tones, although it does look like it has blackish areas.

I'm not sure why the HK bird is B&W, as some Zappey's do have a slight black lower border to the breast.

It would be nice to get an opinion from someone with some experience of this species.

 

[andyb39]

Not so sure now, after having seen these shots of the form intermedia here:

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S37519385

 

[thirudevaram]

Neither have I but the 2018 bird looks just too blue on the breast for Blue-and-white. I'm not sure about the 2012 bird, as I'm having difficult assessing the true colour tones, although it does look like it has blackish areas.

I'm not sure why the HK bird is B&W, as some Zappey's do have a slight black lower border to the breast.

It would be nice to get an opinion from someone with some experience of this species.

Not so sure now, after having seen these shots of the form intermedia here:

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S37519385

Thanks Andy for the inputs. I remembered, i used to send images to OBI and i did send the image back in the day but i dint pay attention to the spp before. When i checked in recently, i found the 2012 individual has been tagged as intermedia.

The same has been confirmed by Paul Leader and he also confirmed the 2018 individual is a Zappey's.