20-4-2024 BANDHAVGARH, INDIA - INDIAN PARADISE FLYCATCHER (MALE) (Terpsiphone paradisi)

The Indian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Asia, where it is widely distributed. As the global population is considered stable, it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2004. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and Myanmar.

Males have elongated central tail feathers, and a black and rufous plumage in some populations, while others have white plumage. Females are short-tailed with rufous wings and a black head. Indian paradise flycatchers feed on insects, which they capture in the air often below a densely canopied tree.

The heads of these birds are glossy black with a black crown and crest, their black bill round and sturdy, and their eyes black. Females are rufous on the back with a greyish throat and underparts. Young males look very much like females but have a black throat and blue-ringed eyes. As adults, they develop up to 24 cm (9.4 in) long tail feathers with two central tail feathers growing up to 30 cm (12 in) long drooping streamers. Young males are rufous and have short tails. They acquire long tails in their second or third year. Adult males are either predominantly bright rufous above or predominantly white. Some specimens show some degree of intermediacy between rufous and white. Long-tailed rufous birds are generally devoid of shaft streaks on the wing and tail feathers, while in white birds the shaft streaks, and sometimes the edges of the wing and tail feathers are black.

Indian paradise flycatchers are found in the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, and Myanmar. They are migratory birds and spend the winter season in tropical Asia. In southern India and Sri Lanka especially the highlands and western parts of Sri Lanka, both locally breeding populations and visiting migrants occur in winter. Indian paradise flycatchers inhabit temperate forests and tropical rainforests with shrubby vegetation, montane forests, and mangroves. They also occur in cultivated areas, suburban and urban areas.

Indian paradise flycatchers are socially monogamous; they form pairs in which both males and females take part in nest-building, incubation, brooding, and feeding of the young. They breed from May to July. The nest is sometimes built in the vicinity of a breeding pair of drongos, which keep predators away. The female lays up to 4 eggs in a neat cup nest made with twigs and spider webs on the end of a low branch. Chicks hatch in about 14-16 days. They are altricial (blind and helpless) and stay in the nest for 9 to 12 days.