The beak and other bare areas, including a wattle ring round the eye, match the colour of the surrounding feathers.

It generally inhabits open forest and savanna, and is a locally common resident breeder in Africa south of the Sahara.

There is a morph of this species in which the male has the chestnut parts of the plumage replaced by white, and some races have black tail streamers.

[3] The red-bellied paradise flycatcher is also closely related to this species, and hybrids occur with the underparts a mixture of black and red.

The African paradise flycatcher is found in most parts of Africa south of the Sahara Desert and also the Arabian Peninsula.