Asian Paradise-flycatcher

The Asian Paradise-flycatcher, also known as the Common Paradise-flycatcher is a medium sized Passerine bird. Neighbours with a wooded garden mentioned to me that they had a pair of Flycatchers nesting in their garden some years back, but for me this week was my first actual sighting of the beautiful adult white male Asian Paradise Flycatcher.

I spotted the bird at a lily pond near Samudram Erie. The lily pond which is skirted by trees is cool, inviting and enjoys the presence of many birds, and as the Flycatcher is very territorial, may well be its current permanent place of occupation.

I now understand why this bird has been described as looking ‘fairy-like’ as it appeared ethereal in presence with its graceful, darting movements and tail feathers trailing behind it.

Fairy Like Male Adult

The below video is a short take of the bird in flight.







However this beautiful white male bird is in fact similar to the rufous colour of the female in the first few years of its life.

Sub Adult Male Before Colour Change

Female Bird

As a sub-adult the male's head is glossy black with a black crown, crest and eyes and the female is red on the back with a greyish throat and underparts. But as the male adult matures, its rufous plummage moults into white with a central pair of tail feathers growing into 30 cm long streamers. The function of the long tail is assumed to be related to sexual selection, with females choosing males based on the length of the tail.

Adult Male After Rufous Moulting

The Paradise-flycatcher inhabits thick forests and well-wooded habitats all over India. It is both migratory and residential, and the climate of tropical South India hosts both visiting migrants and locally breeding birds.

This bird is noisy with sharp skreek call. It has short legs and sits upright whilst perched prominently. It feasts on insects using a variety of techniques, including hawking from a perch.

Chick in Nest

Breeding season for this monogamous bird is April-August during which time the female lays 3-4 pink eggs. The nest is a tiny cup of grasses, roots, fibers and leaves bound together with cobweb and plastered on the outside with egg-bags of spiders. The eggs are incubated by both the male and female.

To view videos of this bird, including nest building videos go to this link here.