Indian Paradise-Flycatcher

A graceful looking flycatcher, the adult male sport a long ribbonlike tail. The males occur in two color morphs cinnamon and white. Both color morphs sport a glossy black head with blue ring around the eye, but white morph is entirely white below while the cinnamon morph has cinnamon upperparts and tail, and dirty white underparts. The females are cinnamon above with a grayish throat, a shorter tail, and they lack the male’s blue eyering. They make short aerial sallies after insects, usually returning to the same perch. Occasionally descends to ground to pull apart insects. Chiefly found in wooded habitats. Their call is a harsh “shreew.”

The Indian paradise flycatcher inhabits the highlands and western parts of Sri Lanka. It can also be found in dry lowlands and lower hills.

The Indian paradise flycatcher eats a variety of small to large insects, including dipterans, neuropterans, hemipterans, coleopterans, lepidopterans, and Odonata. They also occasionally eat spiders.