Asian Paradise-flycatcher

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Asian Paradise Flycatcher
Sub-adult male Paradise Flycatcher
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Monarchidae
Genus:	Terpsiphone
Species:	T. paradisi
Binomial name
Terpsiphone paradisi (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Tchitrea paradisi

The Asian Paradise-flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi), also known as the Common Paradise-flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird. It was previously classified with the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, but the paradise-flycatchers and monarch flycatchers are now placed in the family Monarchidae,^{[2] [3]} and most members of this family are found in Australasia and tropical southern Asia.

Contents 1 Description 2 Habitat and distribution 3 Behaviour and ecology 4 References 5 Other sources 6 External links

[edit] Description

The typical adult male Asian Paradise-flycatcher is about 20 cm long, but the long tail streamers double this. It has a glossy black crown and crest, blue eye-ring and a long narrow rounded tail. The body and wings are white with very long central pair of tail feathers which form streamers that droop. Subadult males lack the long tail feathers and have rufous on body and wing and have the head completely black, including a black throat. Adults males of the "rufous-morph" have rufous on the wings and tail and white on the belly. In some races it is said that the white form is absent. The females are much like the sub-adult males or rufous-morphs but the throat is greyish and not black and they lack streamers.^[4][5][6]

Several races are recognized but need further study. In the Western Himalayas race leucogaster has pale rufous upperparts and white breast and a lot of black on the white wings. Eastern Himalayas race saturatior has a shorter crest which black shaft streaks on the upperparts of the white-morph male and the rufous-morph male is buffier below and has a rufous vent with not so long tail-streamers. Nominate race in Peninsular India and Sri Lankan race ceylonensis have very long streamers and crest. The Sri Lankan race is said to lack the white-morph. The nominate race populations from the Eastern Ghats is said to have a larger bill. The race in Central Nicobars nicobarica has an olive upper mantle and darker underparts.^[4]

Other subspecies include incei of China and Siberia, burmae and indochinensis of Myanmar, affinis of Peninsular Malaysis while procera, insularis, borneensis, floris and sumbaensis are insular forms from the islands of Southeast Asia.

The Asian Paradise-flycatcher is a noisy bird with a sharp skreek call. It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. It is insectivorous, hunting by flycatching in the understory. They bathe in small pools of water in the afternoon by diving from perches.

[edit] Habitat and distribution

This species is usually found in thick forests and other well-wooded habitats. The Asian Paradise-flycatcher breeds from Turkestan to Manchuria. It is migratory, wintering in tropical Asia. There are resident populations further south, for example in southern India and Sri Lanka, so both visiting migrants and the locally breeding subspecies occur in these areas in winter. ^{[7] [8]}

Race leucogaster breeds in the foothills of the Himalayas from Northern Afghanistan to Central Nepal. Race saturatior of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and eastern Bangladesh is resident but may move to the adjacent plains. Race leucogaster moves to the southern Peninsula in winter. Nominate race is resident in many parts of central India but some winter in Sri Lanka.^[4]

[edit] Behaviour and ecology

The breeding season is summer (May to July).^[9] Three or four eggs are laid in a neat cup nest made with twigs and spider webs on the end of a low branch.^[4] The nest is sometimes built in the vicinity of a breeding pair of drongos, which keep away predators. The eggs are incubated by both the male and female. Chicks hatch in about 21 to 23 days.^[10] A case of interspecific feeding has been noted with chicks of the Paradise Flycatcher fed by Oriental White-eyes.^[11]

Male with a feed at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Male with a feed at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Male at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Male with a feed at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Male at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Young male acquiring adult plumage in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India.
Adult malein Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India.	A mature Paradise Flycatcher	Female in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India.	Female at nest in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India.	Male at nest in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India.	Male at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India
Male at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Male at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Male at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India	Male at nest at Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India

[edit] References

[edit] Other sources

• Lewis,WAS (1942) The Indian Paradise Flycatcher Tchitrea paradisi paradisi (Linn.). Some notes on a colony breeding near Calcutta. Jour. Bengal Nat. Hist. Soc. 17(1):1-8.
• Inglis,CM (1942) The Indian Paradise Flycatcher Tchitrea paradisi paradisi (Linn.). Jour. Bengal Nat. Hist. Soc. 17(2):50-52.
• Salomonsen,F (1933). "Revision of the group Tchitrea affinis Blyth.". Ibis 75 (4): 730-745. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1933.tb03360.x. 

[edit] External links

• Photographs and media
• Details and pictures of Asian Paradise Flycatcher from Nagpur, India
• Nest-building video and pictures of Asian Paradise Flycatcher from Kashmir, India