In addition to the long tails the males and females are sexually dimorphic and have rufous, black and white plumage.

They have a medium length grey or blueish bill which is broad and hooked at the end and is surrounded by stiff rictal bristles.

The eye is surrounded by an eyering that is a blue thin wattle (slightly more pronounced in some species like the rufous paradise flycatcher).

The songs are simpler in the Asian species, for example the call of the Japanese paradise flycatcher is a repeated three syllable whistle.

The species also occurs on a number of islands, including those of Indonesia and the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan, as well as Madagascar, the Mascarenes and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean and São Tomé off Africa's Atlantic coast.

[11] The Japanese paradise flycatcher is almost entirely migratory, breeding in Korea and Japan and wintering in the Philippines, Malaysia and Sumatra.

Paradise flycatchers are unusual as exaggerated sexual traits are usually found in promiscuous birds, not monogamous ones.

For example, in the Malagasy paradise flycatcher the female undertakes more brooding responsibilities whereas the male spends more time guarding the nest.

[11] They use a variety of foraging techniques, including hawking from a perch, sallying, hovering, gleaning, and flush-pursuiting.