The three fairy-bluebirds are small passerine bird species found in forests and plantations in tropical southern Asia and the Philippines. They are the sole members of the genus Irena and family Irenidae, and are related to the ioras and leafbirds.

These are bulbul-like birds of open forest or thorn scrub, but whereas that group tends to be drab in colouration, fairy-bluebirds are sexually dimorphic, with the males being dark blue in plumage, and the females duller green.

These species eat fruit, mainly figs, and possibly some insects. They lay two to three eggs in a tree nest.

The call of the Asian fairy-bluebird is a liquid two note Glue-It.

As the names suggest, the Asian fairy-bluebird (I. puella) occurs across southern Asia, the Philippine fairy-bluebird (I. cyanogastra) in that archipelago, and the Palawan fairy-bluebird (I. tweeddalii) on the island of Palawan.

Taxonomy

The first scientists to examine fairy-bluebirds placed them in the genus Coracias, presumably on the strength of the iridescent blue plumage on the back. This was challenged in the 1820s by Thomas Horsfield and Coenraad Temminck, who suggested a relationship instead with the drongos. It was variously placed with the bulbuls and orioles as well. On the basis of the DNA-DNA hybridization studies of Sibley and Alhquist, its closest relatives have now been identified as the leafbirds. This relationship was confirmed by a large molecular phylogenetic study published in 2019, which found that the family Irenidae was sister to the family Chloropseidae containing the leafbirds. The leafbirds are sometimes included in the family Irenidae with the fairy-bluebirds, but the time since the apparent divergence suggests that they are better treated as separate families.

Morphology

Fairy-bluebirds are robust birds that resemble Old World orioles in shape and size. Males are larger than females. They weigh between 50 and 100g, with some of that variation being caused by sexual differences and some by geographic variation.

Male courtship displays include elaborate vocalizations, which the female responds to with nest building. Nests are constructed in trees or tall bushes from twigs, moss and grasses, and males and females cooperate in rearing chicks.

References

  • Fairy-bluebird videos on the Internet Bird Collection