Black-and-orange Flycatcher & the Nilgiri Flycatcher

In news- A new study has revealed that the Black-and-orange Flycatcher(BOF) & the Nilgiri Flycatcher(NIF), two species endemic to the Western Ghats, could suffer a loss of 31 percent and 46 per cent of their range respectively by 2050 due to climate change.

About the study-

Researchers from the Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, developed species distribution models for two both, BOF and NIF.
They did this to understand the current potential suitability and possible responses of the species to future climate change using the MaxEnt algorithm.
MaxEnt, which stands for ‘maximum entropy modelling’, predicts species’ occurrences by finding the distribution that is most spread out, or closest to uniform, while taking into account the limits of the environmental variables of known locations.
As per the study, about 75 per cent of the currently suitable areas of both species lie outside the protected area network in the Western Ghats.
Future predictions for BOF indicate a 30.82 percent loss in suitable areas under the warming scenario called ‘RCP 8.5’.

Black-and-orange Flycatcher(BOF)-

BOF is a species of flycatcher endemic to the central and southern Western Ghats, the Nilgiris.
It is also found in Biligiri Rangana, Kannan Devan Hills and Palni hill ranges in southern India.
It is unique among the Ficedula flycatchers in having rufous coloration on its back.
The male is distinctly black headed with black wings.
The female has the black replaced by dark brown and has a light eye-ring.
They prefer areas with high leaf litter and undergrowth in open shola grassland habitats.
IUCN status: Least concerned.

The Nilgiri Flycatcher(NIF)-

It is an Old World flycatcher with a very restricted range in the hills of southern India.
It was formerly referred to as the Nilgiri verditer flycatcher because of its similarity to the verditer flycatcher.
Nilgiri verditer is a winter migrant to the Nilgiris, which, however, has distinct dark lores and a lighter shade of blue.
This small and somewhat long-tailed flycatcher is about 13 centimetres (5.1 in).
It is dark steely indigo blue with some violet-blue on the forehead and darker lores.
The female is duller with dark brown on the upperparts and dark grey below.
Like most flycatchers, it makes sallies to capture insects and returns to its perch.
It forages mainly in the lower storey but can sometimes be found on top of the canopy.
It is found mainly in the higher altitude shola forests of the Western Ghats,Nilgiris, Palnis, Anamalai ranges, the Brahmagiri, Baba Budan and Biligirrangan hills.
IUCN status: Least concerned.