Animalia Life

Humblotia flavirostris
SUBFAMILY
Muscicapinae
TAXONOMY
Humblotia flavirostris Milne-Edwards and Oustalet, 1885.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Humblot’s flycatcher; French: Gobemouche des Comores; German: Humblotschnдpper; Spanish: Papamoscas de Humblot.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The body length is 5.5 in (14 cm). The sexes are colored similarly, with a brown back, wings, and tail, a white breast heavily streaked with brown, and a lighter streaked throat.
DISTRIBUTION
A rare, endemic, nonmigratory species that occurs only in the Comoro Islands, in the Indian Ocean just north of Madagascar.
HABITAT
Only occurs in natural tropical forest on the slopes of Mount Karthala, a periodically erupting volcano on Grand Comoro Island. Occurs within an altitudinal range of 2,600–6,600 ft (800–2,000 m).
BEHAVIOR
A nonmigratory species. Pairs of breeding birds defend a territory. The song is a sharp trill.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Searches from a perch for flying insects in low parts of the forest canopy.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Builds a cup-shaped nest in a relatively tall tree.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Endangered. An extremely local and rare species that only breeds on the slopes of a single, active volcano. Its population is declining because some of its habitat is being lost to the development of subsistence agriculture, commercial plantations, logging, and invasion of disturbed areas by non-native shrubs. Its critical breeding habitat must be protected.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known, except for the economic benefits of birdwatching.

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