Black Paradise-Flycatcher
Terpsiphone atrocaudata
Graceful songbird of well-shaded forests, particularly stream gullies; often in more open habitat in migration. Stunning breeding male purplish-black above and white below, with a short crest, neon-blue eyerings, and long black tail streamers. Female and non-breeding male have dark gray head and chest, paler eyering, shorter crest, and chestnut-brown wings and tail, without streamers. Compare with female and non-breeding male Amur and Blyth’s paradise-flycatchers, with which Black overlaps on its Southeast Asian wintering grounds. Note Black’s contiguous dark gray throat and chest (Amur has a more sharply-demarcated black throat and gray chest), dull darkish wings (Blyth’s has brighter rufous wings), and fairly clean demarcation between gray breast and white belly (Blyth’s has a more gradual fade). Song a run-on series of coarse whistles; call a rough, nasal “bee.”
Identification
The black paradise flycatcher is similar in appearance to both the Amur paradise flycatcher and Blyth's paradise flycatcher, but is slightly smaller. Mature males have a black hood with a purplish-blue gloss which shades into blackish-grey on the chest. The underparts are off-white to white. The mantle, back, wings and rump are plain dark chestnut. The tail has extremely long black central feathers, which are shorter in immature males. Unlike the Asian paradise flycatcher there is no white morph. The female resembles the male but is duller and darker brown on the chestnut areas. It has black legs and feet, a large black eye with a blue eye-ring, and a short blue bill.<p>The song is rendered in Japanese as tsuki-hi-hoshi, hoi-hoi-hoi, which translates to Moon-Sun-Stars and gives the Japanese name of the bird サンコウチョウ (三光鳥) sankōchō (literally, bird of three lights, i.e. moon, sun, star, from san three + kō lights + chō bird).
Taxonomy
The black paradise flycatcher was previously classified with the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, but the paradise-flycatchers, monarch flycatchers and Australasian fantails are now normally grouped with the drongos in the family Dicruridae, which has most of its members in Australasia and tropical southern Asia.<p>Three subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Terpsiphone atrocaudata
- Authority
- (Eyton, 1839)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae
- Genus
- Terpsiphone
Range and habitat
In Jeju-do of South Korea, Gotjawal Forest, a forest formed on a rocky area of volcanic AA Lava, is one of the important breeding sites of black paradise flycatcher<p>A recent survey detected a steep decline in part of the Japanese breeding population which has presumably occurred because of forest loss and degradation in its winter range. [citation needed]
- Breeding range
- PAL : e, also far n Philippines
- Non-breeding range
- se Asia and Philippines
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Synallaxis castanea
Bright rufous bird with a long, spiky tail and black lores and throat. Sexes similar; juvenile lacks black throat. Mostly in pairs or family groups low to the ground. Fairly common in higher cloud forests, mostly in bamboo patches along roads or forest edges. Very vocal and easy to hear, a two to six note “kik, kik, kik-kik kik,” ascending and building in volume, often given repetitively for long periods. No similar species in range. Endemic to the Coastal Cordillera of Venezuela.
Olive-green Camaroptera
Camaroptera chloronota
A short-tailed warbler-like bird of humid forest. Dull overall with an olive-green back and wings. The color of the underparts varies geographically: gray in the western part of the range and brown with a white belly in the east. Inhabits rainforest and secondary growth, where it typically skulks in dense understory. Similar to White-tailed Warbler, but lacks white in the outer tail. Somewhat similar to Green-backed Camaroptera, but found in denser forest and has duller coloration overall, without a bright green wing. Usually detected by its remarkable song: a fast series of high-pitched whistles that can go on for minutes. Also gives a bleating call like other camaropteras.
Brown-rumped Tapaculo
Scytalopus latebricola
Small, mouse-like bird found only at higher elevations in Colombia’s Santa Marta Mountains. Adult is gray with a bit of brown on the rump and lower underparts. Young birds are browner with dark barring and scaling. The only other tapaculo in range is Santa Marta Tapaculo, which has a white crown patch, occurs at lower elevations, and has a different voice. Song starts with several sharp notes, and then abruptly morphs into a harsh, rapid trill. Skulks in cloud forest understory, where it is normally hard to see well.
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