Northern Black Flycatcher

The Northern Black Flycatcher is one of the largest species of flycatcher. Like all members of its genus, it has a long tail complemented by short wings. From a distance, it looks like a small blackbird since it appears to be mostly black. In reality, it is slate gray with a clearly bluish tinge under proper light conditions for the male of the type subspecies. The lores and parotids are blackish. Its wings and tail are even darker, with hints of brown-black, edged with grayish-blue and with a slightly barred pattern. The iris is brown-dark brown. The black beak is strong and surrounded by vibrissae, and the upper mandible is slightly overhanging. The legs are black.
The female is duller than the male, with upperparts being blackish gray and the underparts being paler gray. The juveniles are completely spotted and streaked with rusty ocher, with the exception of the flight feathers. Their beaks and legs are brown. The immature resembles the female though its wings and tails are browner.
Melaenornis edolioides lugubris is slightly duller.
Melaenornis edolioides schistaceus is grayer.
The squared ending of the tail and the size of its beak distinguish this species from the two other long-tailed insectivore species, the Shining Drongo and the Ludwig's Drongo, which inhabit similar biotopes.