Birdwatching - 2183 🐦

🦉 The European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

• Ficedula fi cedulinus (medieval lat.): “A small bird that feeds on figs and turns into a black-headed warbler in winter ”(from: Jobling, 2010)
• hypoleuca hypoleucos Greek: hypo below, a little, leukos white, hypoleukos whitish

This bird arrives in the so-called second wave in the spring. By this time, the snow has mostly melted in the forests, but the unpredictable weather can still be cold, and in my region it can even snow. There are few insects at this time, so how does this bird survive? It is one of the few birds that eats stink bugs, which crawl to the surface in such weather.

Another funny thing is the plumage color of the males. It varies from very light, almost like the females, to very dark brown, almost black.