Explore Taxonomy
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Muscicapidae
Genus
Cyornis
Surprise Me
Previous Sunda Blue Flycatcher
Next Palawan Blue Flycatcher
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
© Wilbur Goh
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
+5
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
Watch
- Malaysian Blue Flycatcher
Listen

Malaysian Blue Flycatcher Cyornis turcosus Scientific name definitions

Peter Clement
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2006

Sign in to see your badges

Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

13–14 cm. Small flycatcher, the smallest of the blue Cyornis species. Male nominate race has shining cobalt-blue forehead, supercilium, chin and throat, deep aquamarine-blue crown, face and upperparts to mantle and back, and bright cobalt-blue lower back to uppertail-coverts; upperwing and tail sooty brown, broadly edged cobalt-blue on wing-coverts and slightly more violet-blue on tail; lores blackish; breast and flanks orange or rufous-orange, fading into white on belly and undertail-coverts; iris dark brown; bill black; legs dark lavender-grey to greyish-horn. Differs from males of C. banyumas, C.ticke­lliae and C. rubeculoides mainly in having upperparts and throat all deep blue, and no pale blue on forehead. Female is similar to male but has duller aquamarine-blue upperparts, buffish or whitish chin and throat, pale orange-rufous on breast fading on flanks. Juvenile is sooty brown above, heavily spotted with orange-buff, largest spots on mantle and scapulars, with greater coverts, tertials and inner secondaries broadly tipped orange-buff, remiges and tail feathers edged bluish, chin to breast buff, barred or scaled dark brown. Race rupatensis has breast and flanks deeper-coloured, more rufous-orange, than nominate.

Systematics History

Proposed race rupatensis too poorly differentiated to uphold (e.g., degree of violet tinge on upperparts of male apparently an unreliable character, as individually variable) (1, 2). Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.

Habitat

Dry lowland primary and secondary forest, including swamp-forest, in Borneo; more frequently in riverine forest in Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. Occurs to no more than c. 60 m in Malay Peninsula (erroneously reported to 800 m); to 500 m in Borneo.

Movement

Resident.

Diet and Foraging

Food includes small invertebrates. Solitary or in pairs. Forages in lower storey of riverine and streamside forests, by making aerial pursuit after passing insects from low perch.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song a soft, weak series of five or six whistled melodious phrases, “diddle diddle dee diddle dee”, often inaudible at moderate distance. Alarm call a hard “tik-tk-tk” and a harsh grating “chrrk”.

Breeding

Season Apr to at least Jul, and recently fledged juveniles seen in Sept. Nest built by female, a small open cup of moss, plant fibres and gossamer, placed up to 3 m from ground at end of rotted tree stump or in crown of tree-fern under overhang of moss-covered boulder. Clutch 2 eggs; incubation by female, and nestlings tended by both sexes; no information on duration of incubation and fledging periods.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife NT Near Threatened
Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near-threatened. Rare and local in Malay Peninsula owing to continuing loss of closed-canopy lowland forest; occurs in Separi Forest Reserve; also present in Taman Negara National Park, where rare. Common and widespread in Borneo. Local in Sumatra, where regular in Way Kambas National Park.
Distribution of the Malaysian Blue Flycatcher - Range Map
Enlarge
  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Malaysian Blue Flycatcher

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Clement, P. (2020). Malaysian Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis turcosus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.mabfly1.01
Birds of the World

Partnerships

A global alliance of nature organizations working to document the natural history of all bird species at an unprecedented scale.

American Ornithological Society American Ornithilogical Society Armonia Bolivia Aves Argentinas Avibase Aves Uruguay Birds Caribbean Bird Count India Conservación de Islas Corbidi Fundación Ñankulafkén Instituto Humboldt Lynx Edicions Oikonos Oriental Bird Club Ornithological Society Of The Middle East The Caucasus And Central Asia RED DE OBSERVADORES DE AVES Y VIDA SILVESTRE DE CHILE Roberts Birds Save Brasil Taiwan Biodiversity Research Institute Union Venezolana De Ornitologos