The Taiga Flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla) is one of the toughest identification challenges a Swedish birder can face, only recognised as a species distinct from the Red-breasted Flycatcher as recently as 2003. It measures about 11 cm and is practically identical in size and shape to its close relative. In its autumn plumage — almost the only plumage seen in Sweden — an adult male shows a grey-brown back and grey cheeks and crown, with the decisive mark being an orange throat patch confined strictly to the throat, never spreading onto the breast as it does on a male Red-breasted Flycatcher; on many autumn birds this mark is faint or entirely absent. The dark tail shows white at the base forming a T-shaped pattern visible in flight, but females and young birds are so similar to their Red-breasted counterparts that they can usually only be told apart with certainty by voice.
The contact call is a dry, hard "chrrt," recalling something between the calls of a Redstart and a Red-breasted Flycatcher but drier and more crackling, and for silent or plumage-ambiguous birds it remains the single most reliable identification tool. The species breeds across the taiga from eastern Russia and Siberia to Kamchatka and winters in Southeast Asia; in Sweden it turns up as a regular but scarce autumn passage migrant, mainly in September and October, with most records from the east coast — Öland, the Stockholm archipelago and the Halland coast — where 10–30 individuals are typically reported each year, though many more likely pass through unrecognised among the commoner Red-breasted Flycatchers. Like that relative, it hunts by sitting on a lookout perch and sallying out after insects, favouring scrubby coastal habitat, gardens and patches of deciduous woodland during its stopover, and while often shy it can sometimes be approached with care.
Read about this species in Swedish →