Chinese Blue Flycatcher
Cyornis glaucicomans
One of a number of confusingly similar blue flycatchers. Male is brilliant blue above with orange throat and breast; note off-white lower belly. His dark orange throat distinguishes him from Blue-throated Blue Flycatcher. Female is drab brown with an orange chest, white belly, and dull rufous tail. Note weak orangish eyering, dull tannish throat, and overall warm brown coloration. Brown flanks in both sexes. Breeds in montane and hilly forest, typically in areas with dense undergrowth; winters at lower altitudes. Musical song is composed of trills and whistles; calls are a hard “tak” or “chek.”
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Cyornis glaucicomans
- Authority
- Thayer & Bangs, 1909
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Muscicapidae
- Genus
- Cyornis
Range and habitat
- Breeding range
- OR : s, se China
- Non-breeding range
- se Asia
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Fairy Pitta
Pitta nympha
A beautiful ground-dweller of well-shaded forests. Adult mostly green above, creamy tan below, with vivid red patch in undertail and central belly and multicolored head, with black mask, tan eyebrow, white throat, and rufous-and-black crown. The similar Blue-winged Pitta has vivid blue wings. In flight, note bright green wings with electric blue shoulder and white patch. Four-syllabled song consists of paired, clear whistles, “pee-yu, pee-yu.”
Vinaceous-breasted Amazon
Amazona vinacea
Rare parrot, usually associated with Araucaria forests but can be found in other forest types. The body is mostly green with a small red patch on the forehead (just between the eyes), wings, and at the base of the outer tail feathers. Has a prominent purple scaly breast, which looks very puffy when the feathers are erected. Pale yellow terminal band to the tail and blue flight feathers also good field-marks.
Long-tailed Fantail
Rhipidura opistherythra
A small brown songbird with a long tail, often held cocked or fanned. Upperparts largely rufous except for a grayer head with a pale brow. Shows a white throat and uniform buff underparts. Inhabits lowland forest and sometimes mangroves. Confined to the Tanimbar Islands. Told from Arafura Fantail by the lack of a white tip to the tail and the absence of a black breast patch. Gives a distinctive, repetitive, see-sawing two-note song phrase, “wee-oo-wee-oo-wee-oo,” rising on the first note, falling on the second. Also gives nasal jittering calls.
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Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.