It is a migratory species, breeding in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the far north of the Philippines.

Outside the breeding season it migrates to China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, other parts of the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Sumatra, Indonesia.

Mature males have a black hood with a purplish-blue gloss which shades into blackish-grey on the chest.

The tail has extremely long black central feathers, which are shorter in immature males.

In Jeju-do of South Korea, Gotjawal Forest, a forest formed on a rocky area of volcanic AA Lava, is one of the important breeding sites of black paradise flycatcher[4] A recent survey detected a steep decline in part of the Japanese breeding population which has presumably occurred because of forest loss and degradation in its winter range.