Hill Blue Flycatcher
Cyornis whitei
Medium-sized confusing flycatcher. Male is beautifully colored, with deep blue upperparts, orange throat and breast, and white belly. Note dark face and electric blue highlight on the forehead. Female is duller. Very similar to closely-related Large Blue Flycatcher: note marginally smaller bill without a noticeable hooked tip, less contrastingly pale throat, and darker legs. Male Hill Blue Flycatcher has more orange on the throat and a dark blue rump. Breeds in hilly and montane broadleaf thickets, often in areas with dense undergrowth; migratory birds winter at lower altitudes. Song mixes melodious warbling and whistling notes with harsh, rasping ones. Calls are a loud “chak” or “tak,” reminiscent of stones tapping.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Cyornis whitei
- Authority
- Harington, 1908
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Cyornis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Brown-throated Wattle-eye
Platysteira cyanea
Small black-and-white bird with a bright red patch of bare skin above the eye. Males have a black breast band, and females a brown throat. Found in thick woodland, gallery forest, and mangroves. The song is usually given as a duet: a descending series of melancholy whistles from the male, and lower rasping notes from the female. Similar to Black-throated Wattle-eye, but shows a white slash on the wing, and the female has a brown rather than white throat. Separated from batises by the red wattle and, in females, by the brown throat.
Nilgiri Flycatcher
Eumyias albicaudatus
Entirely indigo-blue male is unique; Verditer Flycatcher is brighter blue and more elongated. Female Nilgiri is gray overall, though can sometimes show a bluish tinge in good lighting. Song consists of a lengthy series of various whistles and warbled notes, typically given from an exposed perch by both sexes. Sallies from perches in hill forest and forest edge; most common above 1200 meters.
White-rumped Vulture
Gyps bengalensis
A medium-sized vulture with a silvery bill, a dark body, a grayish shine on the wings, a white back, and a distinctive white collar on the neck. In flight, the adult appears dark with a strikingly large white slab running across the underside of the wing. The juvenile is dark brown with fine pale streaks; it has a dark collar, pale feathers on the head, a dark bill, and no white on the back or underwing. Found in open areas and around habitation.
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