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Red-bellied paradise flycatcher

Red-bellied paradise flycatcher
Flickr - Rainbirder - Red-bellied Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer) male.jpg
Red-bellied paradise flycatcher
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Monarchidae
Genus: Terpsiphone
Species: T. rufiventer
Binomial name
Terpsiphone rufiventer
(Swainson, 1837)
Subspecies

See text

Synonyms
  • Muscipeta rufiventer

See text

The red-bellied paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone rufiventer), also known as the black-headed paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird of the family of monarch flycatchers. It is native to Equatorial Africa. The male bird is about 17 cm (7 in) long and has a black head, a mainly chestnut body, and a tail with streamers nearly twice as long as the body. The colouring is somewhat variable across the bird's range. Both females and juveniles lack the tail streamers and are a duller brown colour. It is closely related to the African paradise flycatcher, and the two can hybridise.

The name "red-bellied paradise flycatcher" is also used as an alternate name for Bedford's paradise flycatcher.

Ten subspecies are recognized:

Until 2009, the Annobón paradise flycatcher was classified as a subspecies (T. r. smithii) of the Red-bellied paradise flycatcher.

The adult male of this species is about 17 cm long, but the long tail streamers nearly double the birds length. It has a black head, and the rest of the plumage is chestnut, other than a prominent black wingbar. The female is duller and lacks the tail streamers. Young birds are plain brown.

The males show considerable variation in plumage in some areas. There is a morph of this species in which the male has the chestnut parts of the plumage replaced by white, and some races have black tail streamers.

The red-bellied paradise flycatcher is a noisy bird with a sharp zweet call. It has short legs and sits very upright whilst perched prominently, like a shrike. It is insectivorous, often hunting by flycatching.

The black-bellied African paradise flycatcher, Terpsiphone viridis, is closely related to this species, and hybrids occur with the underparts a mixture of black and red.

The red-bellied paradise flycatcher is a common resident breeder in tropical western Africa south of the Sahara Desert. This species is usually found in thick forests and other well-wooded habitats. Two eggs are laid in a tiny cup nest in a tree.


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Wikipedia

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