White-bellied Blue Flycatcher

White-bellied Blue Flycatcher
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Muscicapidae
Genus:	Cyornis
Species:	C. pallipes
Binomial name
Cyornis pallipes (Jerdon, 1840)

The White-bellied Blue Flycatcher, Cyornis pallipes, is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae.

This is an insectivorous species which breeds in the Western Ghats of southwest India.

The White-bellied Blue Flycatcher breeds in forest undergrowth and ravines. It nests on a rock ledge and lays four eggs.

The White-bellied Blue Flycatcher is 15 cm long. It is an upright long-tailed flycatcher. The male has bright blue upperparts, head and breast, and the rest of the underparts are white.

Females are completely different, with brown upperparts, a grey head and red breast. The rest of their underparts are white.

Juvenile birds have brown upperparts, scaly on the head and breast, with just the belly being whitish.

The call is a soft rambling series of trills going up and down with sibilant whistling notes interspersed.

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Cyornis pallipes. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 10 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ISBN 0-691-04910-6