Asian Paradise Flycatcher
The Asian Paradise Flycatcher
(Terpsiphone paradisi) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Asia. Males
have elongated central tail feathers, and in some populations a black and
rufous plumage while others have white plumage. Females are short-tailed with
rufous wings and a black head. They feed on insects, which they capture in the
air often below a densely canopied tree.With an extremely large range and a
large population that appears to be stable, they have been evaluated as Least
Concern by IUCN since 2004.
In his first description of 1758,
Carl von Linné nominated the species Corvus paradisi. 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.
Adult Asian 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, their eyes black. Female 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.
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.
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.
[Wiki]
