Seychelles Paradise-Flycatcher
Terpsiphone corvina
Unusual and distinctive paradise-flycatcher. Adult males are completely glossy blue-black with extremely long tail streamers. Female has a black head, rufous upperparts, and white underparts, and lacks tail streamers. Both sexes have a blue ring of bare skin around the eye. Endemic to the Seychelles, where it is found mainly on the islands of La Digue and Denis. Habitat is thick indigenous woodland. A restless, active bird of middle levels of the forest. Calls include a tearing “shreeet” and an agitated twittering. The song is a long, musical, slightly descending series of “twee” notes.
Identification
The length of the males is about 20 cm. In addition there are two long black central tail feathers which can reach a length of 30 cm. The females can reach a length between 16 and 18 cm (including the tail). The males are entirely glossy black with a deep blue sheen. The upperparts of the females including wings and tail are reddish brown. The underparts are pale cream white. Facial skin, bill, and legs are blue.
Taxonomy
An alternate common name for the Seychelles paradise flycatcher is the Seychelles black paradise-flycatcher.
- Scientific name
- Terpsiphone corvina
- Authority
- (Newton, E, 1867)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae
- Genus
- Terpsiphone
Range and habitat
It lives in the Veuve Nature Reserve on La Digue, Seychelles, where it inhabits dense Calophyllum forests. Although a reservation was made especially for this bird, it is common to see it outside in the trees or even in the garden of the Seychellois people. Plans were made to get this bird back into the wild on other islands of the Seychelles.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
It preys on insects in flight or from a perch. It also feeds on larvae and spiders. The oval bowl-shaped nest is built on branches and consists of twigs, palm fibre, and spider webs. Both parents, male and female, take care of the little bird until it grows up and each of them provides it with food, mainly in the form of flies for which it got its name.
Conservation
The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists this bird as being "Vulnerable". The threats it faces are a result of its specific habitat requirements which are incompatible with the habitat loss and fragmentation taking place on La Digue, due to increasing tourism and the expansion of settlements. Numbers of birds are thought to be in the low hundreds, and in an effort to improve its long-term hopes of survival, it has been introduced to Denis Island where there are no mammalian predators. 23 birds were moved to Denis Island in 2008 and have since successfully bred there.
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
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