Mangrove Blue Flycatcher

The mangrove blue flycatcher is a 14.5 cm coastal flycatcher. Males have dark blue upperparts and deep orange-rufous extending from the throat to the belly, with a white vent and dark blue lores. Females retain blue above but show white lores, a pale patch below the eye and a buffier orange throat. The depth of orange below helps separate males from Chinese blue flycatchers (Bird Society of Singapore species account; Singapore NParks).

The species lives in coastal mangroves and adjoining forest from the Thai-Malay Peninsula through Indonesia to the Philippines, with a strong association with nipa-palm thickets. It is usually solitary or in pairs and hunts flying insects in short sallies from low, shaded perches. The nest can be placed in the hollow top of a broken nipa-frond base; the usual clutch is two. Taxonomic lists differ over whether the Kalao blue flycatcher is a separate species or a subspecies within this complex (Bird Society of Singapore; Singapore NParks; Wikipedia taxonomy account).