The black paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone atrocaudata''), also known as the Japanese paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

native to southeastern Asia. It is a glossy black, chestnut and white bird, slightly smaller than either the

Amur paradise flycatcher The Amur paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone incei'') is a bird species in the family Monarchidae. It is native to China and Primorsky Krai in the Russian Far East. It is a winter migrant to Southeast Asia. Until 2015, it was considered as a subsp ...

Blyth's paradise flycatcher Blyth's paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone affinis''), also called the oriental paradise flycatcher, is a species of bird in the family Monarchidae. This species occupies evergreen broadleaf forests and forest edges, including secondary growth, g ...

, but similar in appearance. Males have exceptionally long tails. Females are generally duller in appearance and have shorter tails. It is a migratory species, breeding in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the far north of the Philippines. Outside the breeding season it migrates to China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, other parts of the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Sumatra, Indonesia.

Taxonomy and systematics

The black paradise flycatcher was previously classified with the

Old World flycatcher The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

family

Muscicapidae The Old World flycatchers are a large family, the Muscicapidae, of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia), with the exception of several vagrants and two species, bluethroat (''Luscinia svecica'') and north ...

, but the paradise-flycatchers, monarch flycatchers and Australasian fantails are now normally grouped with the

drongo A drongo is a member of the family Dicruridae of passerine birds of the Old World tropics. The 28 species in the family are placed in a single genus, ''Dicrurus''. Drongos are mostly black or dark grey, short-legged birds, with an upright stan ...

s in the family Dicruridae, which has most of its members in Australasia and tropical southern Asia.

Subspecies

Three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized: * ''T. a. atrocaudata'' - ( Eyton, 1839): Breeds in central and southern Korea and Japan, wintering in Southeast Asia from Philippines to Sumatra. Seen as a spring and fall migrant through Southeast Asia including eastern China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. * ''T. a. illex'' -

Bangs Bang, bang!, or bangs may refer to: Products * M1922 Bang rifle, a US semi-automatic rifle designed by Søren Hansen Bang * Bang, a List of model car brands, model car brand * Bang (beverage), an energy drink Geography * Bang, Central African ...

, 1901: Originally described as a separate species. Smaller and darker than the nominate subspecies. Breeds on the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...

and is presumed to be resident. * ''T. a. periophthalmica'' - ( Ogilvie-Grant, 1895): Originally described as a separate species. Similar to ''illex'' but male has a purplish-back mantle and grey-black underparts with more restricted white on the belly. Found on

Lanyu Island Orchid Island, known as Pongso no Tao by the indigenous inhabitants, is a volcanic island located off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the island and the nearby are governed by Taiwan as in Taitung County, which is one of the county's two ...

(off of southeast Taiwan) and

Batan Island Batan Island ( ) is the main island of Batanes, an archipelagic province in the Philippines. It is the second largest of the Batanes Islands, the northernmost group of islands in the Philippines. Geography Batan is a dumbbell-shaped volcanic is ...

(northern Philippines) CallaeopsPeriophthalmicaGronvold

Description

The black paradise flycatcher is similar in appearance to both the

and Blyth's paradise flycatcher, but is slightly smaller. Mature males have a black hood with a purplish-blue gloss which shades into blackish-grey on the chest. The underparts are off-white to white. The mantle, back, wings and rump are plain dark chestnut. The tail has extremely long black central feathers, which are shorter in immature males. Unlike the Asian paradise flycatcher there is no white morph. The female resembles the male but is duller and darker brown on the chestnut areas. It has black legs and feet, a large black eye with a blue eye-ring, and a short blue bill. The song is rendered in Japanese as ''tsuki-hi-hoshi, hoi-hoi-hoi'', which translates to ''Moon-Sun-Stars'' and gives the Japanese name of the bird サンコウチョウ (三光鳥) ''sankōchō'' (literally, bird of three lights, i.e. moon, sun, star, from ''san'' three + ''kō'' lights + ''chō'' bird).

Distribution and habitat

In Jeju-do of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Gotjawal Forest ''Gotjawal'' () is a Jeju language, Jeju-language term for a dense and wild forest. The term is now used to describe the forest biome of Jeju Island, in Jeju Province, South Korea. ''Gotjawal'' are typically found between the island's central mou ...

, a forest formed on a rocky area of

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

AA Lava, is one of the important breeding sites of black paradise flycatcherOh, Hong-shik, Byung-soo Kim, and Wanbyung Kim, 2002
Study on the bird communities of Mt. Halla
Korea Journal of Ornithology, Vol 9, No. 2, pp85-104 A recent survey detected a steep decline in part of the Japanese breeding population which has presumably occurred because of

forest loss Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then land conversion, converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or u ...

and degradation in its winter range.

Notes

References

*Brazil, Mark. ''The Birds of East Asia: China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Russia.'' A & C Black Publishers Ltd., 2009 * ''Sibagu: Bird Names in Oriental Languages'' (http://www.sibagu.com/japan/monarchidae.html) (accessed 24 November 2014) {{Taxonbar, from=Q1074163

Black paradise flycatcher The black paradise flycatcher (''Terpsiphone atrocaudata''), also known as the Japanese paradise flycatcher, is a medium-sized passerine bird native to southeastern Asia. It is a glossy black, chestnut and white bird, slightly smaller than either ...

Birds of Japan Birds of Korea Birds of the Ryukyu Islands