Indian Paradise Flycatcher (Male)
Terpsiphone paradisi
The male — long white tail-streamers trailing through the forest shade.
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What the hills call it
Doodhraj
/ doodh·raaj /दूधराज
Indian Paradise Flycatcher (Male) — The male — long white tail-streamers trailing through the forest shade.
Field notes
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Monarchidae · Monarch flycatchers
- Genus
- Terpsiphone
- Length
- 20 cm (plus up to 30 cm of tail)
- Weight
- 17–23 g
- At Kunja
- Summer visitor — breeds through the warm months
- Conservation
- Least Concern
How to know it
The adult male is silvery-white with a glossy blue-black head and crest and two long, streaming white tail-ribbons that trail behind it in flight. Spellbinding.
What it eats
Insects, caught on the wing in active, twisting sallies from a perch.
Where & when to spot it
In the shade of leafy trees and the forest understorey, the white tail flickering through the gloom; commonest in the warmer foothills.
Nesting & mating
The pair builds a tiny, neat cone of fibre and cobweb on a low fork; three or four eggs.
In the lens
Indian Paradise Flycatcher (Male), photographed at Haldwani
Photographs by Manohar Negi · mnegi.com — tap any photo to view it full
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