Alternative name: Little Restless Flycatcher
- Myiagra nana
Identification
18.5 cm (7¼ in)
Male
- Black upperparts
- Dark blue gloss on crown and back
- White underparts, sometimes with a pale peachy-buff wash on chest
- Broad pale greyish bases on flight-feathers (visible in flight)
Female
- More dark slate-grey on uppperparts
- Contrasting glossy black crown
- Dull mid-grey lores
Immatures similar to adults but paler, with buffy wash on breast and whitish tips on upperwing-coverts
Similar species
Smaller than Restless Flycatcher, with a shorter bill and blacker-looking upperparts.
Distribution
North Australia and extreme South New Guinea.
Common in suitable habitat. In New Guinea formerly only known from Saibai Island and River Bensbach area but now also found on middly River Fly at Ambuve and Obo.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Forms a superspecies with Restless Flycatcher and has been considered conspecific with it in the past.
Habitat
Found in tropical eucalypt savanna woodland, paperbark woodland, riverine woodland, billabongs, pandanus thickets, scrub and sedge in grassy floodplains. Usually near water.
Behaviour
Often rather tame. Sweeps its tail frequently from side to side.
Diet
Feeds on arthropods including spiders, centipedes and insects.
Forages near water singly or in pairs. Frequently hovers over water, shrubs and tall grass.
Breeding
Breeding season from August to April, up to three broods per year. The nest is a cup made of bark shreds and grass. It's placed in a fork of a dead sapling or shrub 1 to 6 m above the ground near water. Lays 3 to 4 eggs.
Movements
This is a sedentary species.
Reference
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2015. IOC World Bird Names (version 5.2). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved May 2015)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Paperbark Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Paperbark_Flycatcher
