Myiagra
Encyclopedia
Myiagra is a genus of monarch flycatcher, sometimes referred to as the broad-billed flycatchers or simply broadbills (not to be confused with the broadbills of the family Eurylaimidae). They are separated from other members of the family, particularly the Monarcha
monarchs they resemble, by their consistent sexual dimorphism
, egg patterning, and the crested heads that often lack facial patterns (a few Monarcha monarchs also lack facial patterns). The genus is spread across Australasia
, with some representatives in Wallacea
, New Guinea
, Australia
, the Solomon Islands
, New Caledonia
, Vanuatu
, Fiji
, Samoa
and Micronesia
. Members of this genus occur as occasional vagrant
s in New Zealand
and formerly occurred in Tonga
and Guam
.
Flycatchers in the genus Myiagra are small bids ranging in length from 13-20 cm in length. They have broad flattened bill
s adapted to catching insects. The bill is usually black, the exception being the Blue-crested Flycatcher
of Fiji, whose bill is bright orange. The insides of their mouths are bright orange, noticeable when singing. When perched they have an upright stance. The satiny plumage
of all species is sexually dichromatic
, to a greater or lesser degree. Overall males tend to have dark blue or black heads, backs, wings and tails and pale bellies and rumps. Some males have red underparts, others have the dark upper plumage all over, and the slightly aberrant shining flycatchers have chestnut wings, backs and tails. The females follow a similar pattern to males but have lighter, more washed out colours. When perched the species in this genus constantly moves their closed tail, in the Restless Flycatcher
the tail is shacked from side to side. The calls are general unmusical and are described as guttural, harsh and rasping.
The genus is adapted to feeding on insects in a manner similar to the Old World flycatchers in the family Muscicapidae. Prey is obtained by sallying
from a perch to obtain flying insects or by hover-gleaning, snatching insects from the undersides of leaves while in flight.
Monarcha
Monarcha is a genus of bird in the Monarchidae family.It contains the following species:* Black Monarch * Black-and-white Monarch * Black-chinned Monarch...
monarchs they resemble, by their consistent sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
, egg patterning, and the crested heads that often lack facial patterns (a few Monarcha monarchs also lack facial patterns). The genus is spread across Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, with some representatives in Wallacea
Wallacea
Wallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Wallacea includes Sulawesi, the largest island in the group, as well as Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Halmahera, Buru, Seram, and...
, New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
, Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
and Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
. Members of this genus occur as occasional vagrant
Vagrancy (biology)
Vagrancy is a phenomenon in biology whereby individual animals appear well outside their normal range; individual animals which exhibit vagrancy are known as vagrants. The term accidental is sometimes also used...
s in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and formerly occurred in Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
.
Flycatchers in the genus Myiagra are small bids ranging in length from 13-20 cm in length. They have broad flattened bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
s adapted to catching insects. The bill is usually black, the exception being the Blue-crested Flycatcher
Blue-crested Flycatcher
The Azure-crested Flycatcher or Blue-crested Flycatcher is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae...
of Fiji, whose bill is bright orange. The insides of their mouths are bright orange, noticeable when singing. When perched they have an upright stance. The satiny plumage
Plumage
Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
of all species is sexually dichromatic
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
, to a greater or lesser degree. Overall males tend to have dark blue or black heads, backs, wings and tails and pale bellies and rumps. Some males have red underparts, others have the dark upper plumage all over, and the slightly aberrant shining flycatchers have chestnut wings, backs and tails. The females follow a similar pattern to males but have lighter, more washed out colours. When perched the species in this genus constantly moves their closed tail, in the Restless Flycatcher
Restless Flycatcher
The Restless Flycatcher, Myiagra inquieta, is a passerine bird in the family Monarchidae.Also known colloquially as Scissors Grinder or Dishwasher on account of its unusual call, the Restless Flycatcher was first described by ornithologist John Latham in 1802. Its specific epithet is derived from...
the tail is shacked from side to side. The calls are general unmusical and are described as guttural, harsh and rasping.
The genus is adapted to feeding on insects in a manner similar to the Old World flycatchers in the family Muscicapidae. Prey is obtained by sallying
Hawking (birds)
Hawking is a feeding strategy in birds involving catching flying insects in the air. The term usually refers to a technique of sallying out from a perch to snatch an insect and then returning to the same or a different perch...
from a perch to obtain flying insects or by hover-gleaning, snatching insects from the undersides of leaves while in flight.
Species
- Guam FlycatcherGuam FlycatcherThe Guam Flycatcher or Guam Broadbill was a species of bird in the Monarchidae family. It was endemic to Guam, where it was known locally as the chuguangguang...
(Myiagra freycineti) – extinct - Mangrove FlycatcherMangrove FlycatcherThe Mangrove Flycatcher or Palau Flycatcher, is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is endemic to Palau.Photo: -References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 26 July 2007....
(Myiagra erythrops) - Oceanic FlycatcherOceanic FlycatcherThe Oceanic Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family. It is endemic to Micronesia....
(Myiagra oceanica) - Pohnpei FlycatcherPohnpei FlycatcherThe Pohnpei Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is endemic to Micronesia.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 26 July 2007....
(Myiagra pluto) - Biak FlycatcherBiak FlycatcherThe Biak Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is endemic to West Papua, Indonesia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests....
(Myiagra atra) - Dark-grey FlycatcherDark-grey FlycatcherThe Dark-grey Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is endemic to Indonesia.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.-References:...
(Myiagra galeata) - Leaden FlycatcherLeaden FlycatcherThe Leaden Flycatcher is a species of passerine bird in the family Monarchidae. Around 15 cm in length, the male is a shiny lead-grey with white underparts, while the female has grey upperparts and a rufous throat and breast. It is found in eastern and northern Australia, Indonesia, and...
(Myiagra rubecula) - Steel-blue FlycatcherSteel-blue FlycatcherThe Steel-blue Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is found in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. . Downloaded on 26 July 2007....
(Myiagra ferrocyanea) - Ochre-tailed FlycatcherOchre-tailed FlycatcherThe Makira Flycatcher , also known as the Ochre-tailed Flycatcher, is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family. It is endemic to Solomon Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:* BirdLife International 2004. ...
(Myiagra cervinicauda) - Melanesian FlycatcherMelanesian FlycatcherThe Melanesian Flycatcher is a species of bird in the monarch-flycatcher family Monarchidae. The species is sometimes known as the New Caledonian Flycatcher. The species is found in New Caledonia,, Vanuatu and Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands. The species is closely related to a number of...
(Myiagra caledonica) - Vanikoro FlycatcherVanikoro FlycatcherThe Vanikoro Flycatcher, Myiagra vanikorensis is a species of monarch flycatcher in the family Monarchidae. It has a slightly disjunct distribution, occurring in Santa Cruz Islands in the southern Solomon Islands and the islands of Fiji...
(Myiagra vanikorensis) - Samoan FlycatcherSamoan FlycatcherThe Samoan Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is endemic to Samoa.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montanes, and rural gardens....
(Myiagra albiventris) - Blue-crested FlycatcherBlue-crested FlycatcherThe Azure-crested Flycatcher or Blue-crested Flycatcher is a species of bird in the monarch flycatcher family Monarchidae...
(Myiagra azureocapilla) - Broad-billed FlycatcherBroad-billed FlycatcherThe Broad-billed Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist...
(Myiagra ruficollis) - Satin FlycatcherSatin FlycatcherThe Satin Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.-Distribution:The Satin Flycatcher It is found in Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea....
(Myiagra cyanoleuca) - Restless FlycatcherRestless FlycatcherThe Restless Flycatcher, Myiagra inquieta, is a passerine bird in the family Monarchidae.Also known colloquially as Scissors Grinder or Dishwasher on account of its unusual call, the Restless Flycatcher was first described by ornithologist John Latham in 1802. Its specific epithet is derived from...
(Myiagra inquieta) - Paperbark FlycatcherPaperbark FlycatcherThe Paperbark Flycatcher , also known as the Little Restless Flycatcher, is a passerine bird in the family Monarchidae. It occurs in tropical woodland and riverine habitats of northern Australia and southern New Guinea...
(Myiagra nana) - Shining FlycatcherShining FlycatcherThe Shining Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea....
(Myiagra alecto) - Dull FlycatcherDull FlycatcherThe Dull Flycatcher is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family.It is endemic to Papua New Guinea.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes.-References:...
(Myiagra hebetior)