Pied Flycatcher
Latin: Ficedula hypoleuca (Pallas 1764)
Svenska: Svartvit flugsnappare
Deutsch: Trauerschnäpper
Who's with who?
The pied flycatcher has a complicated love life. The males will often sneak away and try to get themselves an 'extra' female. But, the female left behind might then find a new male, straightaway. After all of the back and forth, neither the females nor the males know who is the father to the chicks...
Pied flycatchers are the most common nesting birds in Uppland. There are 50,000 pairs here today, but it hasn't always been so. Linneaus wrote in 'Fauna Suecica' that the bird was only seen in Skåne. It was reported in Uppland by Tengman in 1783, and in 1792 by Samuel Ödmann, two of Linneaus' students. The pied flycatcher began to thrive in the late 1800's in parks and communities, and by the 1900s their numbers were markedly higher in the county.
Older pied flycatchers migrate from early July. They spend the winter in tropical Africa, north of the equator, and return in early May.
Latest sightings of pied flycatchers in Uppland
NatureGate on the European pied flycatcher
Wikipedia article on the European pied flycatcher