[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2015] – I found this first summer male Narcissus Flycatcher Ficedula narcissina on Happy Island, Hebei Province, China on 14 May 2012. I was on a solo visit for ten days to the island and this sighting was a real highlight. So far as I am aware, this species is very rarely seen in China. Buried beneath an overhanging scraggly bush in Temple Wood, I struggled to focus the camera on the flycatcher from my position on the boardwalk. I quickly skipped back to manual focus and hurriedly snapped the two documentation photographs shown below. The flycatcher took off through the woods and was not seen by any other observers, in spite of a British birding tour group just a short distance away! It appears to be a first summer male, retaining some of the first winter grayish feathers about the nape and hind supercilium. Fresh orange yellow feathers are molted into most of the supercilium, and other field marks of the species can be seen such as the black chest side spur, white wingbar, and beautiful fresh looking orange throat and chest. One of the more surprising finds during my ten days on Happy Island.

Narcissus Flycatcher first summer male – Happy Island, China 14 May 2012

Narcissus Flycatcher first summer male – Happy Island, China 14 May 2012