The cerulean flycatcher (''Eutrichomyias rowleyi'') is a medium-sized (up to 18 cm long), blue

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

with bright cerulean blue plumage, a bare white orbital ring, dark brown

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

, bluish black

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

and pale blue-grey below. The young has a shorter tail and grey underparts. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Eutrichomyias''. Although it resembles a

monarch flycatcher The monarchs (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivorous songbirds with long tails. They inhabit forest or woodland a ...

, it is actually related to the fantails.

Taxonomy and systematics

The scientific name commemorates the British explorer and ornithologist

George Dawson Rowley George Dawson Rowley (3 May 1822 – 21 November 1878) was an English amateur ornithologist who published a series called Ornithological Miscellany in which he reprinted notes on bird studies of the time. He studied at Eton and Trinity college and w ...

. The cerulean flycatcher was originally described in the genus '' Zeocephus'', and until recently was known as the cerulean paradise-flycatcher. Alternate names include Rowley's flycatcher and Rowley's paradise-flycatcher. Although initially classified in

Monarchidae The monarchs (family Monarchidae) comprise a family of over 100 passerine birds which includes shrikebills, paradise flycatchers, and magpie-larks. Monarchids are small insectivorous songbirds with long tails. They inhabit forest or woodland a ...

, a 2017 study involving sequencing of DNA from the type specimen found that it was a member of the

fantail Fantails are small insectivorous songbirds of the genus ''Rhipidura'' in the family Rhipiduridae, native to Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the species are about long, specialist aerial feeders, and named as "f ...

family

Rhipiduridae The family Rhipiduridae are small insectivorous birds of Australasia, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent that includes the fantails and silktails. Taxonomy and systematics There are four genera classified within the family: * Subfamily R ...

, being classified in the basal subfamily Lamproliinae (sometimes considered a distinct family) along with '' Chaetorhynchus'' and ''

Lamprolia The silktails are a group of birds endemic to Fiji. The two species (Taveuni silktail and Natewa silktail) are placed in the genus ''Lamprolia''. They look superficially like a diminutive bird-of-paradise but are actually closely related to the ...

.'' This finding was accepted by the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

, who renamed the species from "cerulean paradise-flycatcher" to just "cerulean flycatcher".

Distribution and habitat

The cerulean flycatcher is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the island of Sangihe, off

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Soccsks ...

in Indonesia. Previously known only from a single specimen collected in 1873, this rare bird was rediscovered in October 1998 around forested valleys of

Mount Sahendaruman Mount Sahendaruman is an extinct volcano located in southern part of Indonesian island of Sangihe. It is an area high in biodiversity in Wallacea, especially seen in the small forest patch in mountain slopes Mount Sahendaruman, the last remaini ...

in southern Sangihe.

Behaviour and ecology

Food and feeding

Its diet consists mainly of insects and other small invertebrates.

Threats

Due to ongoing habitat loss, a small population size, and limited range, the cerulean flycatcher is evaluated as Critically Endangered on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

of Threatened Species.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q282608 Rhipiduridae Endemic birds of Sulawesi Critically endangered fauna of Asia Birds described in 1878