Indian Paradise-Flycatcher
Terpsiphone paradisi
A graceful looking flycatcher, the adult male sport a long ribbonlike tail. The males occur in two color morphs cinnamon and white. Both color morphs sport a glossy black head with blue ring around the eye, but white morph is entirely white below while the cinnamon morph has cinnamon upperparts and tail, and dirty white underparts. The females are cinnamon above with a grayish throat, a shorter tail, and they lack the male’s blue eyering. They make short aerial sallies after insects, usually returning to the same perch. Occasionally descends to ground to pull apart insects. Chiefly found in wooded habitats. Their call is a harsh “shreew.”
Identification
Adult Indian paradise flycatchers are 19–22 cm (7.5–8.7 in) long. Their heads are glossy black with a black crown and crest, their black bill round and sturdy, and their eyes black. Females are rufous on the back with a greyish throat and underparts. Their wings are 86–92 mm (3.4–3.6 in) long. Young males look very much like females but have a black throat and blue-ringed eyes. As adults, they develop up to 24 cm (9.4 in) long tail feathers with two central tail feathers growing up to 30 cm (12 in) long drooping streamers.<p>Young males are rufous and have short tails. They acquire long tails in their second or third year. Adult males are either predominantly bright rufous above or predominantly white. Some specimens show some degree of intermediacy between rufous and white. Long-tailed rufous birds are generally devoid of shaft streaks on the wing and tail feathers, while in white birds the shaft streaks, and sometimes the edges of the wing and tail feathers are black.<p>In the early 1960s, 680 long-tailed males were examined that are contained in collections of the British Museum of Natural History, Chicago Natural History Museum, Peabody Museum, Carnegie Museum, American Museum of Natural History, United States National Museum, and Royal Ontario Museum. The specimens came from almost the entire range of the species, though some areas were poorly represented. The relative frequency of the rufous and white plumage types varies geographically. Rufous birds are rare in the extreme southeastern part of the species' range. Throughout the Indian area and, to a lesser extent, in China, asymmetrically patterned intermediates occur. Intermediates are rare or absent throughout the rest of the range of the species. In general, long-tailed males are<p>Possible interpretations of this phenomenon are: males may be polymorphic for rufous and white plumage colour; rufous birds may be sub-adults; and there may even be two sympatric species distinguishable only in the male.
Taxonomy
Corvus paradisi was the scientific name proposed by Linnaeus in 1758. Paradise-flycatchers used to be classified with the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, but are now placed in the family Monarchidae together with monarch flycatchers.<p>Until 2015, the Indian paradise flycatcher, Blyth's paradise flycatcher, and the Amur paradise flycatcher were all considered conspecific, and together called Asian paradise flycatcher.<p>Linnaeus thought that the Indian paradise flycatcher occurred only in India. Later, ornithologists observed it in other areas and described several subspecies based on differences in plumage of males. Three subspecies are recognized:
- Scientific name
- Terpsiphone paradisi
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae
- Genus
- Terpsiphone
Range and habitat
The Indian paradise flycatcher is a migratory bird and spends the winter season in tropical Asia. In southern India and Sri Lanka especially the highlands and western parts of Sri Lanka, both locally breeding populations and visiting migrants occur in winter.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
Indian paradise flycatcher's breeding season lasts from May to July. Being socially monogamous, both males and females take part in nest-building, incubation, brooding, and feeding of the young. The incubation period lasts 14 to 16 days and the nestling period 9 to 12 days. The nest is sometimes built in the vicinity of a breeding pair of drongos, which keep predators away. The female lays up to four eggs in a neat cup nest made with twigs and spider webs on the end of a low branch. Chicks hatch in about 21 to 23 days. A case of interspecific feeding has been noted with paradise flycatcher chicks fed by Indian white-eyes.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Variable Limestone Babbler
Gypsophila crispifrons
A large, chunky, scraggly-looking babbler found in limestone hills covered with forest. Gray and brown overall with heavy streaking on the head, back, and throat. An odd white morph shows a variable amount and distribution of bright white on the head and breast. Forages close to the ground, often in and around rocky cracks and crevices. Song is a loud, ringing, rather hoarse-sounding sequence of whistled notes including some repeated phrases, sometimes given as a duet by a pair. Also gives harsh “grrr” calls. Similar to Streaked Wren-Babbler, but larger and longer-tailed, lacking white spots on the shoulder.
Coleto
Sarcops calvus
A fairly large bird of forest canopy and more open wooded areas from the lowlands to low elevations in the mountains. Often seen on exposed snags. Pale gray from the back of the neck down the back to the rump and the sides. The rest of the underparts and wings are black. Head mostly covered with bare pink skin. Unmistakable. Voice includes a mixture of clicks, squeals, metallic warbling, and piping notes.
Great-billed Hermit
Phaethornis malaris
Large hermit with an extremely long curved bill. Note the dark cheek bordered by pale eyebrow and mustache, and the elongated white central tail feathers. Fairly dull overall, with bronzy back and buffy or grayish belly. Occurs in lowlands across much of northern South America, typically below 1,000 m. Fairly common within terra firme forest where it stays low, quickly zipping around flower patches in the understory.
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