Malagasy Paradise-Flycatcher
Terpsiphone mutata
Adult males have extremely long tail streamers, and can show mainly rufous, white, or black-and-white plumage. Female is rufous and lacks tail streamers. Both sexes have a blue ring around the eye. Found in all forest types and in adjacent plantations and scrub. Restless, active mid-story bird that sometimes joins mixed feeding flocks. Call is a tearing “shree-shreeet”, and song a long, musical series of “twee” notes. Black-and-white males larger and longer-tailed than Ward’s Flycatcher, without a black chest band. Rufous coloration, blue eye ring, and upright posture identify female.
Identification
The Malagasy paradise flycatcher is a medium-sized passerine, measuring 18 cm (7.1 in) in length and weighing between 12.1 and 12.3 g (0.43 and 0.43 oz). Males have long tail plumes, which can add as much as 18 cm (7.1 in) to their overall length. The female is largely rufous-orange, with a black head and nape. The flight feathers on her wings are black with rufous edges, and she has a thin, light blue eyelid wattle.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Malagasy paradise flycatcher in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Madagascar. He used the French name Le gobe-mouche a longue queue de Madagascar and the Latin Muscicapa Madagascariensis Longicauda. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the Malagasy paradise flycatcher. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Muscicapa mutata and cited Brisson's work.<p>The species remained in the genus Muscicapa with other Old World flycatchers until 1827, when Constantin Wilhelm Lambert Gloger created the genus Terpsiphone for the paradise flycatchers. The genus name Terpsiphone comes from the Greek words terpsi, meaning "delighted in" (from terpo, "to delight") and phone, meaning "voice". The species name, mutata is Latin for "changed" or "different". An alternate common name is the Madagascar paradise flycatcher.<p>The Malagasy paradise flycatcher is thought to have evolved from African ancestors, as it appears to be more closely related to the African paradise flycatcher than the Indian paradise flycatcher.<p>There are five subspecies recognized, which differ only slightly in appearance:
- Scientific name
- Terpsiphone mutata
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae
- Genus
- Terpsiphone
Range and habitat
This species is a regional endemic found on Madagascar, Mayotte and the Comoros islands. It is common in all native forest types except montane forest, at elevations ranging from sea level to 1,600 m (5,200 ft). It also occurs, though less frequently, in other wooded habitats, including plantations, gardens and secondary forest.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Like all members of its genus, the Malagasy paradise flycatcher is an insectivore, feeding on a variety of insects. It regularly joins mixed-species flocks, particularly those containing common newtonias. It is a "follower" in such flocks, allowing other birds to work as "beaters"; it follows them and hunts down any insect prey they flush. Studies have shown that the paradise flycatcher's foraging efficiency is directly correlated to the number of common newtonia in a flock; a greater number of common newtonias results in a higher foraging efficiency for any accompanying Malagasy paradise flycatchers. When rufous vangas, which generally forage within a meter (yard) or so of the ground, are present in the same mixed-species flocks as Malagasy paradise flycatchers, the latter preferentially follow the vangas, and therefore forage closer to the ground than they normally do.<p>The female typically lays a clutch of three eggs measuring 0.72–0.76 inches (18–19 mm) in length and 0.55–0.57 inches (14 mm) in width. These range in color from pinkish-white to salmon-pink, with dense brown or lavender speckling or blotching on the wide end of the egg. This species occasionally serves as host to the Madagascar cuckoo, a brood parasite.
Conservation
The IUCN rates the Malagasy paradise flycatcher as a species of Least Concern. Despite the fact that its numbers appear to be decreasing, the decline is not precipitous, the species is still common on Madagascar and its global range is sizable.<p>A number of diurnal raptors, including Frances's sparrowhawk, yellow-billed kite and Madagascar harrier-hawk hunt Malagasy paradise flycatchers. In addition, there is at least one record of a common brown lemur eating a nestling Malagasy paradise flycatcher, one of the few records of a wild lemur eating anything other than plant material.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Barratt's Warbler
Bradypterus barratti
A skulky, dull brown warbler with a long and graduated tail, a pale grayish eyebrow, and a throat that is lightly streaked. It creeps around mouse-like in thick undergrowth and tangles in forest and forest edge. It is also found in isolated pockets of scrub, often adjacent to streams, and is frequently detected and identified by its song, mostly delivered between September and December: 2-3 sweet “tsiit” notes followed by a loud trill of 15-20 harsh “tchui” notes. It also has a strident chipping alarm call “tddd-ddr-ddr-ddr-ddr-tt.” The similar Knysna Warbler differs from Barratt’s Warbler by its shorter tail, darker underparts, less pronounced throat streaking, and different song.
Spectacled Petrel
Procellaria conspicillata
Large, stocky, dark petrel. Look for the diagnostic pattern of white “spectacles” on the face. In flight, alternates slow wing beats with glides. Usually seen well offshore in relatively warm waters. Breeds only on Inaccessible Island. The closely-related White-chinned Petrel lacks the white face pattern.
Jabiru
Jabiru mycteria
Huge, massive-billed, and unmistakable stork of tropical lowlands. Found in marshes and flooded fields, but nests high in large trees. Sometimes seen feeding in wetlands in loose association with other wading birds, which are all much smaller. Flies strongly and often high overhead, sometimes even soaring like a vulture. Plumage is wholly white (no black in wings in flight) but the naked head and neck are black, with a broad red band at base of the neck.
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