Touch of paradise

Terpsiphone viridis, the African paradise flycatcher, is my hands-down favorite flycatcher, and not just in Africa but anywhere else I've been. I don't know how any other species can hope to compete with the adornment of a male in his breeding dress, especially when one considers the intra-species variation between rufous and white forms. Check out the image here.

I see these wonderful birds only infrequently in Mbale, though they are common enough in most of their wide range. So it was a special treat a couple of mornings ago to have a pair of them -- the male with his tail streamers almost all the way grown out -- fly across the road in front of me and into a jambolan tree.