Black Paradise Flycatcher

How to identify

Field marks

1. Male has black head and breast with a purple-blue metallic gloss, and white underparts
2. Male has extremely long, black central tail feathers
3. Back, wings and rump deep chestnut
4. Large black eyes with blue eye-rings; short blue bill

Male, female and young

Female resembles male, but has darker, browner chestnut areas and a shorter tail.

Voice

The call resembles the Japanese phrase “tsuki-hi-hoshi”, meaning “moon, sun, stars”.

Similar species

Amur Paradise Flycatcher

Black Paradise Flycatcher is slightly smaller, with a sharp boundary between the dark breast and white belly, less distinct in Amur Paradise Flycatcher, and has no white morph.

Where and when it's recorded

Black Paradise Flycatcher has been recorded at 273 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 9 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Yeliu IBATaiwan (China)669 records
2. Nanhui DongtanChina536 records
3. Man Nai IslandThailand327 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaThailandSingaporeJapanSouth KoreaMalaysiaPhilippinesCambodia

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The black paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone atrocaudata), also known as the Japanese paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird native to southeastern Asia. Males have exceptionally long tails. Females are generally duller in appearance and have shorter tails.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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