A bird whose shimmering lustrous azure upper parts seamlessly blend with his white lower underparts.
The Leaden Flycatcher
The leaden flycatcher (Myiagra rubecula) measures 14.5 to 16 centimeters (6-1/2 inches) in length and weighs in at 10 to 15 grams. Wearing a shiny lead-gray almost azure blue color to the throat head and upper parts they have a brownish tinge to the wings with a blue-black bill, black legs and dark brown eyes.
The female in contrast to the male has an orange-tan throat and breast with a white belly.
Juvenile birds resemble female birds but with paler wing edges.
This bird is found in eastern and northern Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea.
In the northern parts of their range, these birds like to inhabit subtropical or tropical mangrove forests in, in the south and inland they prefer eucalypt woodland.
The Leaden Flycatcher likes to dine on insects caught while on the wing or gleaned from foliage.
As this bird’s name would suggest, the leaden flycatcher is insectivorous. Very active and agile, it hops between branches and catches insects while on the wing.
The Leaden Flycatcher builds a shallow, cup-shaped nest consisting of bark and grass held together by a spider’s web and decorated with pieces of bark and lichen. This is built by both sexes and is usually placed on an exposed limb about 3 m to 25 m above the ground. Both sexes also incubate the eggs and feed the young.
This bird is considered as of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
