The Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is an impressive bird, especially the male morph whose long tail can reach more than 27 cm long. As the bird flies it’s long white tail dangles and sways suggestively like a butterfly fluttering about. The bird winters in tropical Asia and is seen in Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia as a passage migrant.
Tan Swee Nam had an exciting encounter with a pair of nesting birds in Taman Negara, Malaysia on 7th June 2006 and brought back the two images shown here. He arrived just a few days too late to see the male flycatcher replenish with his long white tail. A Malaysian birder saw the birds feeding the chicks on 29th May, probably hatched about two days earlier. The male still had its long tail when he left in 3rd June.
The chicks fledged on 9th June at 11 am, about 13 days after hatching.
This species is usually found in forested areas. Three or four eggs are laid in a neat cup-shaped nest, usually lined with hairs and decorated with mosses and liverworts. The male starts life with rufous plumage that develops white feathers by the second year. By the third year the plumage is completely white, other than the black head. The female resmbles the rufous male, but has a grey throat, smaller crest and lacks the tail streamers.
Thanks Swee Nam for the imput and images.
