Azure-crested Flycatcher
Myiagra azureocapilla
A beautiful small flycatcher. Mostly pale whitish gray below and dark blue above. Crown and cheek vivid sky blue, throat chestnut, and bill bright red. Prefers native mature forest in hills, avoiding regrowth. Similar to Vanikoro Flycatcher, but distinguished by vivid blue head markings and reduced rufous below. Almost identical to Chestnut-throated Flycatcher, but range does not overlap. Song is a repetitive whistled “weet-weet-weet.” Calls include churring and buzzing notes.
Identification
Measuring 14 cm (5.5 in) in length, the azure-crested Flycatcher is sexually dimorphic. The male has light blue crown with slate-blue upperparts, and white underparts. The female in brown above with greyish tinged cheeks and bluish tinged crown. Unusually for the genus Myiagra the bill is bright orange instead of black.
Taxonomy
The azure-crested flycatcher was first described in 1875 by ornithologist Edgar Leopold Layard, Administrator of the Government of the Colony of Fiji at the time. Its specific epithet is derived from the Latin azureus 'blue', and capillus 'of the head'. It is also commonly known as the blue-crested broadbill, or the azure-crested flycatcher.<p>It is a member of a group of birds termed monarch flycatchers. This group is considered either as a subfamily Monarchinae, together with the fantails as part of the drongo family Dicruridae, or as a family Monarchidae in its own right. They are not closely related to their namesakes either, the Old World flycatchers of the family Muscicapidae; early molecular research in the late 1980s and early 1990s revealed the monarchs belong to a large group of mainly Australasian birds known as the Corvida parvorder comprising many tropical and Australian passerines. More recently, the grouping has been refined somewhat as the monarchs have been classified in a 'Core corvine' group with the crows and ravens, shrikes, birds of paradise, fantails, drongos and mudnest builders.<p>In 2016, two former subspecies of the azure-crested flycatcher were reclassified as a separate species, the chestnut-throated flycatcher.
- Scientific name
- Myiagra azureocapilla
- Authority
- Layard, EL, 1875
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae
- Genus
- Myiagra
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Straw-tailed Whydah
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A nest parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of Purple Grenadiers. As with other whydahs, breeding males are spectacular, whereas non-breeding males and females are drab. Breeding males are mostly black, with golden-buff coloring on the cap, the belly, and the elongated central tail feathers. Non-breeding males and females have a brownish back, a golden-buff head, and a red bill. Found in rather dry savanna and cultivated areas. Non-breeding male and female can be identified by their red bill and their almost unmarked plain buff head. Not very vocal, but does imitate Purple Grenadier, and gives a quick jumble of high-pitched whistled notes.
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