Black-naped Monarch

This species is defined as a rarity. Please submit your records of this species via our record submission page.

Scientific Name: Hypothymis azurea
Malay Name: Murai-Ranting Biasa
Chinese Name: 黑枕王鹟

Range:
Found from Indian subcontinent to Southern China and Southeast Asia.

Taxonomy:
Polytypic. Subspecies are: styani, oberholseri, ceylonensis, tytleri, idiochroa, nicobarica, montana, galerita, forrestia, prophata, javana, penidae, karimatensis, opisthocyanea, gigantoptera, consobrina, leucophila, richmondi, abbotti, symmixta, azurea, aeria, catarmanensis.

Local Subspecies: prophata

Size: 16-17.5 cm

Identification:
Male has distinctive all blue upperparts and breast, white belly and black nuchal tuft and breast band. Female has a dull bluish head, greyish breast, brownish upperparts and whitish belly. Juvenile resembles female.

Habitat: Forest, forest edge and secondary growth near forest.

Behaviour/Ecology: Diet consist presumably of small insects which are usually snatched when flushed.

Local Status: Rare resident

Conservation Status: Least Concern (BirdLife International 2016)

Past accepted records in our database: Showing the most recent 10 records. See more on our database page.

Past records, bar chart (see more bar charts):

Photos:

Male Black-naped Monarch at Pulau Tekong on 16 Dec 2012. Photo Credit: Lim Kim Chuah
Male Black-naped Monarch at Pulau Tekong on 16 Dec 2012. Photo Credit: Lim Kim Chuah
Black-naped Monarch (male) at Panti Bird Sanctuary. Photo credit: Lawrence Neo
Black-naped Monarch (male) at Panti Bird Sanctuary. Photo credit: Alan Ng
Black-naped Monarch (male) at Panti Bird Sanctuary. Photo credit: Alan Ng
Black-naped Monarch (female) at Panti Bird Sanctuary. Photo credit: Alan Ng

External Links:
Conservation Status: IUCN Red List Page
Photos: Oriental Bird Images
Sound Recordings: xeno-canto Link
Wikipedia Entry: Wikipedia Link
eBird Species page: eBird (Black-naped Monarch)

References:
BirdLife International. (2016). Hypothymis azurea. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. Downloaded on 2 September 2021

Robson, C. (2014). Field guide to the birds of South-East Asia (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

Wells, D. R. (1999). The Birds of the Thai-Malay Peninsula (Vol. 1). Academic Press, London.