Indian Paradise Flycatcher

The Indian paradise flycatcher is a medium-sized monarch flycatcher. Adults are 19–22cm long, but males grow two drooping central tail streamers up to 30cm long in their second or third year. Both sexes have a glossy black head with a crest and a sturdy black bill. Adult males are either mainly bright rufous above or mainly white, with some intermediates, while females are rufous above with a greyish throat and underparts and a short tail. Young males look like females but have a black throat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It feeds on insects, including grasshoppers, butterflies, mantises and flies, usually catching them in the air, then beating them against a perch and eating the softer parts. It breeds across most of the Indian subcontinent and in parts of Central Asia and China. SoIB 2023 lists it as resident in India with movements within the country and a large range, finds its current trend stable, and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).