Paradise Flycatcher

Indian Paradise Flycatcher

By Aditi Deshpande
10-Jun-2015

The Indian Paradise Flycatcher Terpsiphone paradisi
It was about twenty years ago that my husband gifted me with my first book about birds- ‘101 common Indian birds’ by Dr. Salam Ali and Laeeq Futehally. We were staying in Delhi at the time and he had got it from an exhibition at Pragati maidan. It was one of the best gifts he had given me, as far as I was concerned!
One of the illustrations from that book, which most impressed me was that of the Asian Paradise Flycatcher- Terpsiphone paradisi. The illustration occupied the entire page vertically! It was the adult male of the species to be specific. And my first thought when I saw that was, “What a lovely and unique bird! Would I be lucky enough to ever see it?”
	And my prayer was answered at Vapi! This is a unique species and you’ll definitely agree when you see these photographs. The main body is the size of a bulbul. The female and juvenile males have a black-crested head and the body is chestnut above and whitish below. The young and freshly adult male has the same coloring, but it has long tail streamers which are almost 30cms in length! When it flies, these tail streamers make looping and trailing movements like the tail of a paper kite, which makes it look very charming. All the males have a distinct blue eye-ring which is absent in the female.
Now here’s something really interesting – the adult male, after about 3years, becomes a beautiful silvery-white with the metallic black- crested head! This change starts with the tail feathers. It never ceases to amaze me that a chestnut male can change completely into a silvery-white !! Please click here for my repertoire of pictures of a paradise flycatcher Aditi Deshpande June 10, 2016