Ultramarine Flycatcher

The ultramarine, or white-browed blue, flycatcher is a small arboreal flycatcher, somewhat smaller than a sparrow at about 10 cm, stocky in build. The male is deep blue above, with the sides of the head and neck deep blue and a prominent white patch running from the centre of the throat through the breast to the belly. The eastern subspecies aestigma from the eastern Himalaya lacks distinct white patches, and the population from the south Assam hills, sometimes designated cleta, completely lacks an eyebrow (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds from eastern Afghanistan to the Hengduan Mountains, mostly at 2,000–2,700 m, and winters in India and north-western Indochina. It constantly jerks up its tail, often fluffing its head feathers and giving a trrr note near the nest, and is found singly, sometimes in mixed hunting parties in winter, feeding among the foliage canopy without venturing much into the open. Three to five, usually four, eggs are laid. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a within-India migrant of forest and plantation with a Moderate range of about 220,000 km² and stable current trend (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).