Male Indian paradise flycatcher perched, Dandeli

The Indian paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Asia, where it is widely distributed. Adult Indian paradise flycatchers are 19–22 cm (7.5–8.7 in) long. Their heads are glossy black with a black crown and crest, their black bill round and sturdy, their eyes black. Female are rufous on the back with a greyish throat and underparts. Their wings are 86–92 mm (3.4–3.6 in) long. Young males look very much like females but have a black throat and blue-ringed eyes. As adults they develop up to 24 cm (9.4 in) long tail feathers with two central tail feathers growing up to 30 cm (12 in) long drooping streamers.

Young males are rufous and have short tails. They acquire long tails in their second or third year. Adult males are either predominantly bright rufous above or predominantly white. Some specimens show some degree of intermediacy between rufous and white. Long-tailed rufous birds are generally devoid of shaft streaks on the wing and tail feathers, while in white birds the shaft streaks, and sometimes the edges of the wing and tail feathers are black. The Indian paradise flycatcher is a migratory bird and spends the winter season in tropical Asia. In southern India and Sri Lanka, both locally breeding populations and visiting migrants occur in winter.

Indian paradise flycatchers inhabit thick forests and well-wooded habitats from Central Asia to south-eastern China, Nepal, all over India and Sri Lanka to Myanmar. Indian paradise flycatcher feeds on Chiefly small winged insects, such as dipterans, neuropterans, hemipterans, coleopterans, lepidopterans and Odonata; occasionally spiders. Not globally threatened it is classified as Least Concern. Generally common throughout range, except in Central Asia, where considered to be uncommon.