Satin Flycatcher Myiagra cyanoleuca Scientific name definitions

17·5 cm; 17–18 g. Large myiagra. Male is uniformly glossy blue-black on head and upperparts, blue-black from chin to breast , with very sharp concave demarcation between breast and silky-white of rest of underparts ; blackish undertail; iris very dark brown; bill and legs blackish. Distinguished from very similar M. rubecula by much darker and more contrasting plumage pattern with concave (not convex) breast demarcation, and more uniform wings lacking pale edgings. Female is different from male, dark grey-brown above , with blue-grey tinge on head, wings tinged brown, with light edges of greater upperwing-coverts and secondaries, chin to upper breast rich orangey buff and clearly demarcated from whitish lower underparts, with variable whitish edges on outer tail; very like M. rubecula female, but separated mainly by richer bluish-grey colour of upperparts, contrasting darker cap, darker lores and ear-coverts giving masked effect. Immature is like female, but has buff edgings on wing feathers.

E Australia (mainly from NE New South Wales S along coast to S Victoria and extreme SE South Australia) and Tasmania; non-breeding N & E New Guinea (including D’Entrecasteaux Is and Louisiades), Bismarck Archipelago and, very sparsely, coastal E Australia (S to about Brisbane area).

Food arthropods; seeds occasionally eaten. Occurs singly or in loose pairs, occasionally in small parties of 3–4 individuals. Usually seen high in canopy and subcanopy of taller forested habitats. Very active and seldom still. Sits upright; feeds by sallying after insects from horizontal branch and by darting into leaves after arthropods, rarely on ground.

Song a sharp metallic rising whistle, “choo-ee, choo-ee choo-ee” or “pwee pwee pwee”, and associated clear, high-pitched “weir-to-weir-to-weir” or “thurp, pewit pewit pewit”. Also “chwee-wip” repeated thrice, and more strident than call of M. rubecula, and harsh grating buzzy “bzzurt”, similar to that of M. rubecula.

Oct–Feb; single-brooded. Nest built by both sexes, a cup of shredded grass and bark, moss and spider webs, decorated with lichen, placed 3–25 m up on shaded bare horizontal dead branch. Clutch 2–3 eggs, usually 3, white to creamy or with very faint bluish or greenish tinge, with brown, umber and purplish spots or blotches and underlying spots of dull purplish-grey, all in well-defined zone at larger end, average 19·4 × 14·8 mm; incubation by both sexes, period c. 16 days; both also brood and feed chicks , nestling period c. 15 days. Nests parasitized by Shining (Chalcites lucidus) and Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoos (Chalcites basalis), Pallid Cuckoo (Heteroscenes pallidus) and Brush Cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus).