- Terpsiphone affinis
Identification
20-22 cm, with 20cm long tail streamers
Two very distinct colour phases.
Male has black head and a shaggy peaked crest, bright blue skin round eye, blue bill. Body and very long ribbon tail either entirely white, with black wing feathers, or bright chestnut-brown body and tail, greyish face and breast, paler abdomen.
Female: like the chestnut-phase male, with shorter tail, shorter crest.
Distribution
Southeast Asia
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 10 subspecies[1]:
- T. p. saturatior:
- Breeds in the eastern Himalayas, north-eastern India (Assam), and Bangladesh. winters at lower elevations, but non-breeding range poorly known: often reported to winter to Malay Peninsula, but perhaps only a vagrant that far south
- T. a. burmae:
- Central and southern Myanmar
- T. a. indochinensis:
- T. a. affinis:
- T. a. nicobarica:
- T. a. borneensis:
- T. a. procera:
- Simeulue Island (off Sumatra)
- T. a.insularis:
- Nias Island (off Sumatra)
- T. a. sumbaensis:
- Sumba (western Lesser Sundas
- T. a. floris:
- Western Lesser Sundas (Sumbawa, Alor, Besar, Lomblen and Flores)
Formerly included in Asian Paradise-Flycatcher together with Amur Paradise-Flycatcher and Indian Paradise-Flycatcher.
Habitat
Thick forests and other well-wooded habitats.
Behaviour
Breeding
It builds a cup nest in a tree and 3-4 eggs are laid.
Diet
The diet includes insects.
Vocalisation
It has a sharp zweet call.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
- Avibase
- Birdforum Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blyth's Paradise-Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 22 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blyth%27s_Paradise-Flycatcher
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.