 Acrylic on illustration board 10" x 8" |
The
Paradise Flycatchers of the genus Terpsiphone range through
most of the Old World tropics, from Senegal to the Philippines.
The thirteen species are fairly uniform: medium sized forest
birds that feed on insects caught in mid-flight. The males are
characterized by a pair of extremely long central tail feathers.
Though very similar to the New World Flycatchers of the family
Tyrannidae, they belong to the unrelated Old World family Muscicapidae. The species T. mutata is quite common over the entire island of Madagascar. Both sexes are rufous with a black head, although males also exhibit a light morph, like the individual depicted here. In the background is a brown lemur (Lemur fulvus). |