
Photo: JJ Harrison · CC BY-SA 3.0
Cyornis unicolor
Rare visitor: recorded only occasionally in this country
The pale blue flycatcher (Cyornis unicolor) is a bird in the family Muscicapidae. The species was first described by Edward Blyth in 1843. It is found in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest. (Wikipedia, general species account).
It is superficially similar in appearance to the verditer flycatcher, but is paler blue, with greyish underparts from throat to vent, and a discontinuous black eye-patch. Both birds can often be found in the same locale. Old World flycatchers typically watch from a perch, taking insects in short aerial sallies or gleaning prey from foliage and the ground. Many Asian species show strong differences between male and female plumage, while migrants may use different habitats seasonally. These are family-level ecological notes; the species account above remains the basis for identification and distribution (general Muscicapidae ecology).