Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and plantations.

In 2012, a former subspecies (Pomarea iphis fluxa) was re-classified as the Eiao monarch.

In 1998 an ornithological study estimated that approximately 500 to 1,200 pairs lived on Ua Huka.

Nesting pairs of birds were found from anywhere between 30 and 650 meters in elevation on Ua Huka.

This bird prefers mid-elevation moist forest and lowland dry forest on the eastern coast of Ua Huka where it forages in dense brush for insects.