Blue-and-white Flycatcher - BirdForum Opus

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Nominate subspecies
Photo by stoop
Toyanogata, Niigata, Japan, May 2001

Cyanoptila cyanomelana

Identification

Male has cobalt-blue upperparts, blackish head-sides, throat and breast with rest of underparts whitish. Female has rather uniform brownish upperparts and breast with contrasting white belly and vent, whitish throat-patch and all black bill. First-winter male resembles female but has blue wings, tail and back to uppertail-coverts. Both male and first-winter male has a small whitish patch at the base of the tail feathers which can be used to separate it from the very similar looking Zappey's Flycatcher. This feature, however, may not be seen easily in the field as it may be obscured or covered by the primaries. It is impossible to separate female from Zappey's Flycatcher in the field based on current knowledge.

Distribution

Asia: Russia, Siberia, China, India, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong
Southeast Asia: Indochina, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Malay Peninsula, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Greater Sundas, Sumatra, Java

Taxonomy

Zappey's Flycatcher was formerly included in this species.

Subspecies

2 subspecies are currently recognized^[1]:

• C. c. cyanomelana:

• Breeds Japan and southern Kuril Islands; the species winters south to Myanmar, Thailand, and the Greater Sundas

• C. c. intermedia:

• Breeds in northeastern China (Heilongjiang south to eastern Hebei), southeastern Russia (Amurskaya Oblast and Primorskiy Kray), and the Korean peninsula; the species winters south to Myanmar, Thailand, and the Greater Sundas

Habitat

Primary rainforest, Secondary forest, parkland and occasionally gardens. Low mountains.

Behaviour

Migratory.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2014. IOC World Bird Names (version 4.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
3. Avibase
4. BF Member observations
5. Birdforum thread discussing taxonomy of this species

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Blue-and-white Flycatcher. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-and-white_Flycatcher

External Links

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