Celestial monarch

Celestial monarch
Lithograph (upper bird) by Joseph Smit (1878)
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Monarchidae
Genus:	Hypothymis
Species:	H. coelestis
Binomial name
Hypothymis coelestis Tweeddale, 1877

The celestial monarch (Hypothymis coelestis) is a species of bird in the Monarchidae family, and one of the most attractive of all the monarch flycatchers, with its spectacular blue crest and large yellow eye-ring (both of which are not illustrated in the facing painting). It is endemic to the Philippines.

Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. This beautiful insectivore is declining rapidly, with recent surveys revealing its presence at only 10 sites. Widespread and continuing reduction of its lowland habitat leaves its population severely fragmented and its status is vulnerable according to the Red Data Book of Threatened Birds of Asia.

References

• del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. and Sargatal, J. (2006) Handbook of the Birds of the World Volume 11: Old World Flycatchers to Old World Warblers. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
• Burnie, D. (2001) Animal. Dorling Kindersley, London.
• Mittermeier, R.A., Gil, P.R., Hoffmann, M., Pilgrim, J., Brooks, T., Mittermeier, C.G., Lamoreux, J. and Da Fonseca, G.A.B. (2004) Hotspots Revisited. CEMEX, Mexico City.

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet.
• Species Information at ARKive.
• Celestial Monarch videos on the Internet Bird Collection.