Habitat and Distribution
Asian Paradise-flycatchers inhabit thick forests and well-wooded habitats from Turkestan to Manchuria, all over India and Sri Lanka to the Malay Archipelago on the islands of Sumba and Alor. They are vagrant in Korea and Maldives, and regionally extinct in Singapore.
They are migratory and spend the winter season in tropical Asia. There are resident populations in southern India and Sri Lanka, hence both visiting migrants and the locally breeding subspecies occur in these areas in winter.
According to Linné’s first description Asian Paradise Flycatchers were only distributed in India. Later ornithologists observed this spectacular bird in other Asian countries, and based on differences in plumage of males described several subspecies, of which the following 14 are recognized today:
- T. p. paradisi (Linnaeus, 1758) breeds in central and southern India, central Bangladesh and south-western Myanmar; populations occurring in Sri Lanka in the winter season are non-breeding.
- T. p. leucogaster (Swainson, 1838) breeds in the western Tian Shan, in Afghanistan, in the north of Pakistan, in northwestern and central India, in Nepal’s western and central regions; populations occurring in the east of Pakistan and in the south of India migrate towards the foothills of the Himalayas in spring for breeding.
- T. p. affinis (Blyth, 1846) inhabits Malaysia and Sumatra.
- T. p. incei (Gould, 1852) breeds in eastern, northeastern and central China, in the Russian Far East and in the north of Korea; populations occurring in Southeast Asia are non-breeding.
- T. p. insularis (Salvadori, 1887) inhabits the island Nias off the western coast of Sumatra.
- T. p. nicobarica (Oates, 1890) inhabits the Nicobar Islands.
- T. p. sumbaensis (Meyer, 1894) inhabits the Lesser Sunda Island Sumba.
- T. p. floris (Büttikofer, 1894) inhabits the Lesser Sunda Islands Sumbawa, Flores, Lomblen and Alor Island.
- T. p. procera (Richmond, 1903) inhabits the island Simeuluë northwest off the coast of Sumatra.
- T. p. ceylonensis (Zarudny & Harms, 1912) inhabits Sri Lanka.
- T. p. borneensis (Hartert, 1916) inhabits Borneo.
- T. p. saturatior (Salomonsen, 1933) breeds in the eastern parts of Nepal and northeastern India, in eastern Bangladesh and northern Myanmar; populations occurring in Malaysia migrate northward for breeding.
- T. p. burmae (Salomonsen, 1933) inhabits the central region of Myanmar.
- T. p. indochinensis (Salomonsen, 1933) inhabits the eastern regions of Myanmar, Yunnan in the south of China, migrates through Thailand and Indochina to Malaysia, Sumatra and the neighboring islands.
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