It is endemic to the Philippines with its extant range being in Luzon, Samar, Mindanao Tawi-Tawi and Basilan and it being possibly extinct on Negros and Sibuyan Island.Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests up to 750 masl.

[3] Ebird describes the celestial monarch as "A fairly small, rather long-tailed bird of lowland forest.

Has turquoise wings and tail, an indigo chest and neck, a pale blue crown and crest, and a white belly.

Song is a short series of clear piping notes, ”pii-pii-pii.”[4] These birds exhibit sexual dimorphism in which the males have much longer crests and a more intense coloration overall while the females having shorter crests, less intense blue colors and a generally smaller size.

[10] Its natural habitat is tropical moist lowland forests up to 750 meters above sea level but usually much lower.

Majority of the records in Mindanao are in Bislig, Surigao del Sur which has faced rapid destruction in the past few years after the company that once owned a concession was closed down in 2005 and was overrun with illegal logging and converted into exotic monoculture plantations which cannot support these birds.

This beautiful insectivore is declining rapidly, with recent surveys revealing its presence at only 10 sites with many local extinctions occurring in its former range.

In 2024, a biologist from the Philippine Eagle Foundation reported hearing this bird in Leyte but this record is yet to be fully verified.