Species information
Scientific name: Terpsiphone atrocaudata
Japanese name: サンコウチョウ
Chinese name: 紫綬帶
English name: Black paradise flycatcher
Origin: Japan (including the Ryukyu Islands), Korean Peninsula, Lanyu, Batan Island in the Philippines
Ecology and description
The black paradise flycatcher is a summer visitor in Okinawa. From about April to October, it stays and breeds in Japan, including Okinawa, and then returns to Southeast Asia to spend the winter.
In the breeding season, the male is about 45cm long, and its tail feathers are extremely long, more than twice the length of its body. The face is purplish-black, the back is a dark reddish-purple, the belly is grayish-white, and the eye-ring and bill are bright blue. These long tail feathers exist only during the breeding season and are shed before the birds migrate south in late summer, so males with short tails can also be seen from late summer to autumn. The female is about 18cm long, with a reddish-brown back and tail, a paler blue eye-ring and bill, and a shorter tail.
It lives in rather dark forests from lowlands to low mountains, so it is not easy to observe.
Reference: Japanese Wikipedia: サンコウチョウ
Field photographs taken during our tours, with observation dates
During our 【Morning Birding】 tours in summer, we have opportunities to see this species.
