Japan: Sooty or Asian Brown Flycatcher? (1 Viewer)

[HokkaidoStu]

I took some shots of this Flycatcher this afternoon. I saw a lot of Asian Browns last week and then this individual turned up a week or so later.

Is it a Sooty (Siberian/Dark Sided) Flycatcher? I was led to believe Sooty should have longer wings than this. The lower mandible is also paler than in the books I've consulted.

All pics are of the same individual.

Any opinions gratefully received.

 

[Dong Bei]

All Asian Brown for me. They can be confusing but Dark-sided should be darker on the chest. Dark-sided seem to have a more rounded head appearance as well. Here's a few photos of Dark-sided from Dalian.

 

[HokkaidoStu]

Thanks for the reply.

It looked a bit darker than than the usual Asian Browns but I guess I was right to have doubts........

 

[Dong Bei]

I saw both Asian Brown and Dark-sided today. You can see some comparison photos at
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=165968&page=3 Scroll all the way to the bottom of page 3 for the pics.

Tom

 

[HokkaidoStu]

Looking at your pics the bills on the Sootys are shorter and the head shape is different..........

In mitigation Asian Browns seem very variable, the ones I was seeing last week were much cleaner and paler than this particular one.........