Animalia Life

Irena puella
TAXONOMY
Coracias puella Latham, 1790, Travancore.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Blue-mantled fairy bluebird, common fairy bluebird, Asian fairy-blue-bird; French: Irиne vierge; German: Elfenblauvogel; Spanish: Ave Flor de Espalda Negra.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Solidly built. 10 in (25 cm), 2.5 oz (75 g). Males have black underparts, wings, and tail; upperparts and undertail-coverts are a distinctive ultramarine blue. Females are a uniform dark turquoise-blue with black flight feathers. Both sexes have red eyes.
DISTRIBUTION
Coastal southern India, eastern Himalayas, Myanmar, Yunnan, Indochina, Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and western Philippine island of Palawan.
HABITAT
Primary and tall secondary forests.
BEHAVIOR
May occur in flocks of up to thirty birds, largely staying in upper canopy, though descending to bath in streams. Loud melodious whistles are typical.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
While known to eat insects and nectar, primarily fruit eaters, specializing in figs.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Monogamous. Nest is a loose platform of twigs, lined with fine plant materials, in fork of leafy tree. Clutch is two olive-gray, brown splotched eggs.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened, due to enormous range, but many populations are at risk due to forest destruction.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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